Transforming Ninja
by The Dark Dragon Emperor
Summary: After failing the Genin Exam for the second time, Naruto goes into the forest and stumbles across an ancient relic. After receiving new powers, he's ready to become the most powerful ninja in the world! Only one problem...how does he change back to being flesh and blood? Cooperation with Yatsushiro Ryko. Disclaimer: We own nothing but our OC's and story idea.
1. Chapter 1: An Ancient Power

Chapter 1: An Ancient Power

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 **Hello my wonderful fans! The Dark Dragon Emperor here with a new story for you all! This time I'm bringing in my Naruto/Transformers crossover for you all today.**

 **A fellow author by the name of Yatsushiro Ryko came to me and offered to write one of my stories. At first, I was wary of the idea as I've never done something like this before, but now that I've actually tried it out, I believe that he and I can create a wonderful story together, and I hope to keep working with him for quite a while too.**

 **All I do is just give him the ideas of what I want to put in this story, and he makes them into words. Of course, I edit a few minor details, and speak with him if there's something in the document that bothers me, but other than that, nothing much. I think I could compare myself to an editor in this little collaboration we have here.**

 **Now sit back, relax, and let the party begin!**

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(Konoha)

Naruto Uzumaki stomped out of the Hokage's tower in a bad mood. He had felt confident that he would be promoted to genin rank this time, after failing the previous year.

"Damn bunshin." He muttered under his breath. It wasn't his fault that everytime he attempted it, the sick looking copy seemed to be a balloon of Naruto himself that was only half filled with air. It was even slightly transparent which kind of sickened Naruto and caused everyone who saw the failed attempt to laugh. The failure of a copy would then always proceed to slump to the ground as if it had no skeleton to hold it up and would lie on the ground like a pile of, something. Naruto put his hands behind his head as he sighed. How could he even become a shinobi if he couldn't perform the bunshin properly? It was a standard set by the academy. Suddenly, Naruto then remembered his dream to become hokage and it lit a fire of inspiration for him.

"Yatta! I'm going to become hokage!" He yelled punching the air. The hokage was powerful and never gave up. Just like his idol, the Yondaime. Naruto gazed up at the hokage monuments on the cliff. 'I will join you there, mark my words fourth!' Naruto thought. Naruto started on his way to the cliff to train when his stomach growled loudly.

"Oh well, you're gonna have to wait then fourth." Naruto said. He took out gama-chan and counted was was inside. "Yes! Thanks oji-chan." Naruto punched the air again. "Ichiraku! Here I come!" He yelled happily.

Once he entered Ichiraku Ramen, he was greeted by Ayame and Teuchi. Since he almost ate every meal there if possible, father and daughter had practically accepted him as part of their family. Even if the village disapproved. No sooner had he sat down, Teuchi landed a large pork miso bowl in front of Naruto before preparing seconds. Nothing made him happier than seeing the little boy with blond hair gulp down almost everything thrown his way. He was comforted by the fact that the blonde was happy with his meal. The store owner then looked up to see a civilian walk into the store. The immediate scowl that he gave to Naruto did not escape the chef's attention. He watched angrily as the older man stormed out to look for somewhere else to eat. He couldn't figure out what everyone hated about Naruto. The boy was young and alone, having lost both his parents to the Kyuubi no Kitsune eleven years ago. Yes, it had been devastating, yes Naruto had been born on that day, but why did most of the villagers and older shinobi especially seem to hate the boy? He would not have any of it under his roof. Teuchi swore that in his own way, he would make Naruto happy. "Arigato old man!" Naruto dropped the money on the cashier. What the old man did next surprised Naruto. He took the money and handed it back.

"But old man, I can't take that! That's payment for the food!" The old man closed his hand over Naruto's.

"And this is my payment for you choosing to eat here, now go do something useful with that money."

The joy on Naruto's face melted the man's heart as he watched the orange blur streak away towards the shops. 'Best of luck Naruto.' The old man wished.

Naruto was incredibly happy. The old man had given him a free meal! And now he had extra pocket money. He ignored most of the hateful glares directed at him. He had grown somewhat used to it, but that didn't stop the pain that clenched his chest. Worse still, was when they completely ignored him. As if his existence meant nothing. At least he was getting some kind of atttention when they were mad, but when they ignored him, the blonde boy never felt more alone. In the midst of these thoughts, something caught his eye and the little boy stared in awe at the mask. For some reason he found its fox face design interesting, the entire mask was black with red markings that spiraled around it.

The next second however, a bewildered Naruto found himself sprawled painfully on the street outside.

"Hey! What's your problem baka?!" Naruto yelled back into the shop shaking his fist.

"Get out of my sight monster, before I send you back to hell!" A large man inside the store yelled so ferociously that Naruto wavered a bit.

"What did I do? I was only looking at the mask!" Naruto protested angrily. The man swore before grabbing the mask. "You want this? Take it! Now leave!" The man snapped. Naruto stared at the crowd that had stopped to watch the scene. He looked into their eyes and saw the hate pouring out, even if their faces were impassive. If it had just been one of them it would've been understandable. But it was everyone. The blonde boy felt tears stream into his eyes.

"Why...why do you all look at me with those eyes..." Naruto said softly.

"What?!" The man bellowed. "Speak up dirt child!"

"I said why are you all looking at me with those eyes?! I'll show you, I'm gonna be a better hokage than the Yondaime, then you will have to respect me!" Naruto screamed back, up on his feet and glaring defiantly.

"You dare insult the Yondaime! He was a hero! A brat like you will never even live up to his shadow!" The man roared and grabbed a sword that had been leaning next to his stool before rushing headfirst at Naruto, his intention to maim or kill the boy crystal clear. Naruto was paralysed in shock. He stared in fear at the giant about to stab him. He knew he should move but his body didn't seem to be responding. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain that was sure to come and was surprised when it didn't. He opened his eyes again to see a woman holding the mans arm, halting his rampage. Then the man swore as his swordarm lay helplessly at his side.

"Damn Hyuga! You're all so stuck up and think you're so mighty!"

"We don't spend our free time trying to kill children." The Hyuga stated in a calm voice. It was the type of calm that wound send shivers down someone's spine. "And on that matter, I think I have a right to remove your arm for attempting such a deed." The calm in the voice as she said it made the man cower and run back to his store in fear. She was a shinobi, he stood no chance. The Hyuga then looked at Naruto who gazed up at her with a puzzled look on his face that suggested he wanted to know why she had helped him.

"Don't worry little one, I am your friend." Her voice had softened up now and so had her face making her look very gentle and kind.

"Don't you hate me?" He asked her curiously.

"Why would I hate the one who saved my daughter?" The Hyuga asked kindly. She stepped to the side to reveal the small girl clutching her mother's robe while her other hand was nervously clenched into a fist she held above her chest.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto said surprised. "This is your mother? Arigato, Aunty."

"H-hai, Na-naruto-kun" she kept looking at the ground, before stealing glances at Naruto and turning red. Hitomi laughed at the display her daughter was giving before laughing even harder at the fact that Naruto seemed completely oblivious to it. Naruto thanked her before picking up the mask and heading towards the cliff. Hitomi noticed her daughter staring after him.

"You like him don't you." Hitomi teased poking her daughter in the side. Hinata turned an even darker red.

"Ssshh mother," Hinata looked around nervously, "someone might hear you!"

Hitomi hugged her daughter. "It's our little secret then isn't it?" Hinata nodded before bursting into red again.

* * *

(Two hours later)

Naruto collapsed on the Yondaime's head. He had spent the past hour attmpting to make a successful bunshin but the same end result was always the same. The ghostly copy with no skeleton. He thought about the anger of the villagers. He wanted to be angry at them but found he could not. They must have a reason. When I become hokage, they will forgive me and acknowledge me he thought. So all the more reason to become hokage faster. While sitting back his thoughts drifted over to Hinata. After he had saved her from those boys in the academy, he and Hinata had become friends. They spent most of their time in the academy together, sitting next to each other in class, helping where they could.

 _'Hinata is pretty,'_ he thought. How had he not realized it? Probably because of his long one sided conversations with her. He smiled at the thought. But he was then interupted by a blast of Ki from the forest behind him. It had been small, but Naruto was sure he hadn't imagined it. He leapt up and began to investigate. His excitement to discover what it was caused him to forget to call for assistance.

Orochimaru swore, the scroll he had said it had to be somewhere here. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but the scroll said it held a powerful source of energy. What it didn't say was that if it so chose, this power could deny access into the ruins no matter who he or she was. On his first attempt, a large blast of Ki had thrown him into a large tree and it had hurt. He was about to attempt again but his heightened senses told him something was coming, and fast. Deciding not to risk it Orochimaru hid in one of the nearby treetops, effectively cutting him out of sight. He watched with interest as a blond haired boy ran out to investigate the area where the KI had come from. The snake man waited for the KI to blast away the boy as it had done with him. His face frowned in diappointment, why was the boy not being thrown? He decided to watch intently.

Naruto was sure the blast of energy had come from somewhere around here. He wasn't exactly sure how he knew, but this was it. Looking around he noticed that there was a large rock with a symbol on it at the edge of the clearing. It wouldn't do anyone any harm if he took a look he decided, giving in to his curiosity. Unfortunately, before he arrived at his destination, the ground underneath him crumbled and he fell screaming into a hole.

Naruto stopped yelling once he realized that he hadn't fallen very far down. It was only around ten feet. This height however was enough to be a small room. But this wasn't an ordinary room. The walls were etched with so many seals that could only be opened from the inside making it impossible for anyone to have entered. But if that was the case how come Naruto was allowed in? He wasn't a genius but if he was in the crypt, that meant someone or something had let him in. He drew a kunai and readied himself for anything. At the centre of the room was still dark as the only light was the sunlight through the hole Naruto had fallen into.

There was a sort of alter made of stone that was dimly glowing purple with all the seals. But what had caught Naruto's attention was the metallic cube that was hovering above the alter and slowly spinning. After close inspection, Naruto realized that he hadn't ever seen this metal before. He never listened much in class, but he knew this metal didn't look like the type that was normally found in Konoha. It felt as if it was drawing energy from everything around it, making Naruto feel cold. He seemed to be hypnotized by it and slowly walked towards it and reached out his hand. The second he touched it Naruto screamed in pain. The cube had flown incredibly fast and collided into his stomach, searing itself into his skin. Naruto dropped to the floor in agony as the cube pushed itself further and further in. Then as suddenly as it had started, the pain receded leading Naruto to black out.

Unknown to him, the cube had entered his body, and underneath the spiral of the eight trigrams seal, there appeared another mark, the mark of a cube. On his right shoulder, appeared a purple symbol of a narrowed face that gave off a menacing vibe, and on his left shoulder a red symbol of a more blocky face appeared that had the appearance of a guardian. Both seared into his skin. Just as Naruto fell unconscious there was an enormous wave of KI, much more than what had happened against Orochimaru. The massive energy came from Naruto's body and the first wave completely levelled the ruin to make a crater. Four more massive blasts followed in quick succession before the boy finally lay at rest in the centre of the crater he had inadvertently caused.

* * *

(Hokage's Office)

In the Hokage office Hiashi Hyuga was in a serious conversation with the Sandaime. He had been in the office when Naruto had taken the test. The clan head had then patiently waited until Hiruzen ha finished a meeting with the elders. "Hiruzen, who is Naruto exactly?"

"Wait a minute." The hokage answered before applying the privacy seal that separated them from any one who may have been listening. "Have you found out?" The old man answered wearily.

Hiashi nodded grimly. "He is Minato and Kushina's son isn't he?" The old man simply nodded. "It isn't really that hard, how many blond haired people are present within Konoha besides the Yamanaka? And there were very few 'Uzumaki' here as well. I don't know when they got married or when they decided to have the child. But as a close friend of Minato and Kushina, I feel guilty. I know you have hidden his true identity to protect him. But he doesn't need to suffer the way he is. All alone. If Kushina were alive, we would've been dead by now for how we've treated him. Therefore I would like to take him into the Hyuga clan."

Hiruzen paled at the thought of Kushina before he sat in thought. He had never thought about how Naruto felt about being alone. To be honest he thought the boy had been happy. But to be honest, the third couldn't really believe that his laws could protect the child. He looked over at Hiashi and took in the determination the man had brought with him. "How would your clan react?" Hiruzen asked. "Especially since they can see the Kyuubi chakra within the boy."

"Hitomi and I have thought of that. We have gotten the clan elders to agree and we should have no problem with the branch members, they know what punishment they could recieve if they disobey my orders. And we shall threaten any main family member who doesn't react well to Naruto by giving them the caged bird seal."

"You've spent time thinking this through havn't you? Hiashi."

"Of course Hiruzen." Hiashi replied. "I suppose I also owe it to the boy, he seems to be inspiring my daughter to work harder. But I, of course, have to act firm and strict to push her harder in order to please the elders."

"What of the Hyuga elders? They may decide to place a caged bird seal on the boy in order to gain an advantage over you," Hiruzen asked.

The Hyuga clan head scowled. "We both know full well that won't happen under my supervision."

Hiruzen nodded. "I guess it is settled, I grant you permission to take the boy under your care but first... "

The Sandaime was cut off mid sentence as an amazingly large blast of KI rocked the building. The two bewildered men stared at each other. "What was that?" Hiruzen asked pointlessly. "Are we under attack?" He released the privacy seals and beckoned to the four ANBU stationed outside to follow him as well as Hiashi as four more blasts shook the building.

"Byakugan!" Hiashi yelled as he activated his doujutsu. And he immediatly spotted the source of the energy blasts."Over the hokage monuments, three hundred metres ahead." The team of six sped over to the location and Hiruzen gaped at the massive crater.

* * *

Orochimaru groaned and cracked his neck to the side. He hadn't seen what had happened after the blonde boy had fallen in but ten seconds later he heard the boy screaming in immense pain. He had run to inspect, the curiosity egging him on. But that was before a much larger blast than before threw him backwards with enough force to crash straight through three large tree trunks causing the said trees to fall. But before he could land another wave threw him further still and hew was helpless against all the oncoming waves. He was grateful they had stopped. But what about that boy? He thought. The village would have certainly felt that, someone would be here soon. As if on cue, his teacher arrived with four ANBU and a Hyuga at the edge of a crater the size of a foot ball field. Orochimaru backed up to make sure he was out of range from the Byakugan. Wait, was that a crater?! Orochimaru's attention snapped towards back towards the site. In the middle of the crater lay the boy he had seen. But the boy was unharmed. It also seemed to Orochimaru that the source of the KI had been the boy. Next to the yellow haired child was also a sort of alter. This is interesting. Orochimaru thought.

"Naruto!" Hiruzen and Hiashi yelled in unison. The boy lying down there with his top shredded did not bring out the best ideas in their heads. The two leapt down immediately and were relieved to see he was still breathing.

"What is this?" Hiruzen asked in shock, "These markings wern't here before. Hiashi, take a look." Hiruzen pointed towards the mark of the cube and the marks that had formed on each of Naruto's shoulders. Hiashi activated his byakugan and frowned in concentration.

"Hokage-sama, there's something else in him right now. Before he had vast amounts of his blue chakra and the kyubi's red chakra in his stomcah separate. But now the blue and orange are mixing very quickly, and there is also a black chakra."

"Let's get him to the hospital then. Even if the seal is weakening, I am sure that the black chakra and these new marks have nothing to do with them." He beckoned to one of the ANBU. "Carry Naruto and follow us. You three, I am unsure of what happened, but scout the surrounding area. There might have been an attacker and he may still be around here somewhere." Hiruzen leapt away closely followed by Hiashi and the ANBU carrying Naruto.

Orochimaru smirked. Only three ANBU left to deal with...

* * *

(Inside Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto woke up with his head hurting. He stared up at the ceiling. It was a sickly brown. He stood up and looked around to see that the walls around him were the same but with torches along them. Where am I? He thought. Naruto then realized he was stepping in some sort of water. Crystal clear but the same colour as the rest of the place. It looked like a clean sewer.

 **"So my jailor has finally come to see me."**

Naruto whirled round in shock at the deep voice laced with killing intent. He then saw the great cage with golden bars with a spiraling lock that looked very much like the one on his stomach. He also noticed the large red eye that glared back at him from the darkness through the bars. "Are you the kyubi?" He asked.

 **"So you recognize me brat. Now let me out so I can kill you!"** The kyubi roared while flashing all nine of his tails behind the golden bars.

"That doesn't sound like a good deal."

 **"How about power boy?"** The kyubi offered. The bijuu knew that the more of his power the kid used, the more the seal would weaken. **"Come, have some of this power and do as you wish with it."**

"Why would I want your power? I don't need it. Your power is probably the reason the villagers hate me." Naruto said sadly. "I've always wondered why they did that, looking at me with those cold eyes of hate and calling me 'demon'. I never knew why, until now. But if they know that you're sealed in me, how could they not hate the one who attacked their village? They hate me because of you! I suffered because of you!" Naruto yelled back.

At this the Kyubi quietened down and settled back into the dark, glaring at Naruto with crimson eyes. The kyubi took this as an opportunity to look through the boys memories in silence.

Naruto however spotted the cube he had seen before he blacked out. It was floating in the same way it had been earlier and it was on the Kyubi's side of the fence. "Kyubi, where are we?"

 **"We are in your mind."** The Kyubi grumbled reluctantly.

"Then what is that?" Naruto pointed to the floating cube. The Kyubi spotted the object and stood up to inspect it. As he neared it however, it seemed to have triggered something as an enormous robot the roughly the same size as Kurama came into view. It was humanoid in form with blue and red markings. It didn't get very far before one of Kurama's tails lashed out and struck it with immense force, the robot was blasted away before it slammed into the cage's opposite wall. Kurama growled ferociously and laced the air with killing intent. The robot stood up quickly with it's hands raised up in surrender.

"I mean no you no harm," The robot stated. "I am a representative of the cube and I can explain why it is here."

The angry bijuu just glared at the robot, still tensed for a fight. After a while, Naruto said, "It's fine Kyubi, he doesn't seem to mean any harm. As soon as you think he's a threat, do what you want to him. He's on your side of the gate anyway." The kyubi looked from Naruto back to the robot before it grumbled and lay back down in its corner in the dark, glaring at the intruder.

"Carry on." Naruto motioned to the new addition.

"Understood." The robot relaxed.

"I am Optimus Prime, for now I shall represent the cube. It is from another planet known as Cybertron. There was an enormous civil war there between beings such as myself. The cube decided that it was no longer safe to be protected by us and decided to take countermeasures. It absorbed all our consciousness , friend and foe alike, and thought it was safe. It was wrong however. It couldn't simply obtain all of us. There was a small but very powerful group that remained intent on destroying the cube and therefore everyone within it. This group is under the orders of the 'Creators'. Fearing once again for its safety, the cube launched itself into outer space, in search of a protector. Those intent on destroying it have been searching for it ever since. After many years it finally landed here on earth, far before the time any of you were born."

Naruto frowned, "Oh man, a history lesson?" I've had enough of that!" The robot's story however had caught the Kyubi's attention.

 **"Shut up brat, he's still talking."**

Naruto pouted and looked away. The robot took this oppotunity to continue.

"Ever since then it has been steadily watching and absorbing information about this world. With the exception of the knowledge hidden within scrolls and what's currently going on in peoples' minds, this cube knows almost everything."

The massive bijuu raised its head, obviously interested.

 **"But I thought it came here for protection."** It interrupted with a slight frown.

"Patience friend," Optimus answered patiently. "Ever since that time it has been waiting for a container with a strong, forgiving soul." Both Prime and the bijuu glanced at Naruto who was still pouting, obviously not paying attention. "That one container would be sure to protect the cube while using its power for the better benefit of the container's planet. Those who have come to seek the cube without the requirements could never come close to it. The cube built itself a small shrine, where it patiently waited for the one."

 **"So this boy, he is the one the cube has chosen?"** The Kyubi looked at Naruto and sized him up.

"Kurama, this is the being the cube has chosen."

The Kyubi glanced back towards Optimus. **"But what is the cube doing here inside Naruto if he was only meant to protect it?"**

"This is how it is meant to be protected. Inside the body of its host and granting the host its power. Much like yourself Kurama. Naruto is now the jinchuriki of the cube. Unlike you however, the power it contributes is not chakra."

The bijuu sat in thought until something struck it. **"You know my name."** He stared at the robot intently. **"How?"**

Optimus pointed at the cube. "I already explained that this cube knows a great many things about this planet."

"So your name's Kurama huh. Kyubi has a name it seems." Naruto smirked.

 **"That doesn't change anything brat."** Kurama glared at the yellow haired boy. Kurama then assessed the situation. Before cocking his head back to the robot. **"I am sure you have much more information to share, Prime."**

"That is for another time. There is a risk of Naruto's mind overloading should we overfill it with information. Right now he should simply know that the power the cube grants is gradual and will increase as his own."

Naruto leapt up and got both the giant's attention. "So you mean now I have two sources of power! Yatta! I'm awesome, you know! Now I can really be hokage!"

Kurama spared the boy a glance. **"Prime. We can share information while this boy is awake and then you can tell me how much you know. As for you Naruto,"** The kyubi's gaze settled onto the boy, **"it's time to wake up."**

Naruto shielded his eyes as the intense white light filled his vision. When his eyes adjusted, he looked around to see a large hospital room. And he wasn't alone. He stared into the large white eyes of a stern man that was inspecting his face and Naruto screamed. Hiruzen ran in through the door wondering what had gone wrong when he noticed Hiashi continuously staring at the boy.

"Naruto, what happened?"

"Scary old man was staring at me jiji!" Naruto cried. Hiruzen burst out laughing.

"Naruto, don't worry. This is Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father."

Naruto stopped screaming and studied the man intently while rubbing his chin as if stroking an imaginary beard. "Hinata must look like her mother then, she's pretty, but this man is scary."

The whole time Hiashi remained his strict facade and wothout a word just continued staring at he boy while inside he found himself amused. Hiruzen however burst out laughing. "Naruto don't make him angry, that 'scary man' is who you will be living with."

Naruto's mouth dropped. "Ehhh!" He stared back at the Sandaime and began begging. "Naniii? Jiji what have I done, I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

Hiruzen smirked. "Nothing really Naruto, I have simply decided that you need to live with him."

Naruto's gaze slowly drifted to the Hyuga clan head. "Hai jiji. I'll do it. On one condition." Hiruzen raised and eyebrow. "Do I still get to eat ramen?" The old man sweatdropped.

"Of course Naruto, you can't seem to live without it." Hiruzen laughed at Hiashi's expression before sobering. "Back to serious matters Naruto. What happened to you up there? Why were you up there?" Naruto scratched his head in thought.

"I remember being on top of the Yondaime's head, then I felt a small KI blast so I followed it to this clearing. Then I fell into a whole and saw a cube. That's the last thing I remember." Naruto decided to hold back the information about the Kyubi and the cube that was now sealed within him. Hiashi looked at the boy and decided Naruto was just fine. He spoke for the first time. "Naruto, get ready to pack your things, you're coming with me." Naruto shivered before jumping off the bed excitedly. "Hiashi-sama, I'm going to my apartment, follow me!" Naruto managed to get out before dashing away.

Hiashi moved towards Hiruzen and whispered. "The other three ANBU have not reported back." Hiruzen nodded solemnly. "I'll get some others and inspect that area." Hiruzen whispered back. Hiashi nodded slightly before heading after Naruto.

Meanwhile...

Orochimaru snapped the neck of the third ANBU and chuckled to himself. They had been surprisingly easy to deal with. No match at all for one of the Legendary Sannin. The snake man turned his attention to the altar and ventured down to the centre of the small crater. Without the cube to repel him, Orochimaru managed to get close enough without being violently repelled. He studied the grains of powder the cube had left behind and chuckled again. "Now what may I do with this?" He asked himself before opening a scroll and sealing around four handfuls of powder. "It won't hurt to find out..."

* * *

 **And done! That's a wrap people! First chapter down, many more to go!**

 **So I think that this one turned out pretty well, but it's your feedback that will cement that statement.**

 **Nothing much to say here, as I have really nothing to rant or praise at the moment.**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	2. Chapter 2: Naruto's New Routine

Chapter 2: Naruto's New Routine

* * *

 **Hello again my wonderful fans! Chapter 2 has arrived in a timely manner, as my fellow writer was really eager to get all of you this chapter. So everyone thank him for his quick writing!**

 **Side notes for last chapter that we had forgotten to mention.**

 **The Uchiha clan has not yet been massacred, this is an AU and we have different plans for the next series of events. Therefore Sasuke is still being fangirled over but he is still the lovable boy in canon before the massacre.**

 **Review time:**

 **Vallavarayan: Firstly, the three ANBU had split up to searchtheentire area. Secondly, Orochimaru brought them down one by one behind their backs. Lastly, if Orochimaru did not abtain that powder, many upcoming events will not occur.**

 **Now then, let the party begin**

* * *

(Konoha-Naruto's Apartment)

"Is this all you're bringing?" Hiashi asked the blonde haired boy in his apartment.

"Hai, scary man. I don't own much anyway." Naruto replied as he stocked the two small bags he owned. While Naruto was busy packing, the clan head decided to take a look around the apartment to help him get to know the boy better. There was nothing much in the sense of decoration. Aside from the bed and the bedside table, there was only a central wooden table with four wooden chairs to match. Then there were the cabinets over the sink that lacked any sort of cooking equipment except for a water boiler. Curious, he opened the cabinets and was surprised when piles of instant ramen cascaded down from them and scattered at his feet.

"Scary man I'm done with the first bag!" Naruto yelled triumphantly as he appeared in front a Hiashi. After a quick look around, the Hyuga noticed that there was nothing else for Naruto to put in the second bag. "What are you going to put in the second bag?" He asked the blond boy who shocked him when he began shovelling the pile of instant ramen into the second bag until it was fit to burst. Not that he didn't manage to fill it before then however. Hiashi had found some useful information. This kid lived on ramen.

"Yes, scary man, I'm ready to go!" Naruto shouted excitedly. Hiashi flinched at the disrespect but then realized that this boy had had no one to raise him properly. 'Until now of course.' He thought before following Naruto out the door.

He walked on ahead with the bags until Naruto caught up after locking the door and the boy walked alongside Hiashi with his hands behind his head wearing a stupid grin. Looking around Naruto, Hiashi noticed the hateful glares that followed in the young man's wake. Naruto didn't seem to be affected by it and kept the grin plastered on, but Hiashi knew better. Scowling, the clan head glared menacingly at anyone who turned their way and sure enough, the onlookers gave up and returned to whatever they had been doing.

As they approached the Hyuga gate, the glare the two guards gave Naruto didn't escape Hiashi's notice. After Naruto entered the gates to the Hyuga compound, Hiashi stopped in between the guards and released a small surge of killing intent. "Anyone who doesn't make this boy feel at home will be punished." He added bluntly. The two guards gulped and answered in unison, "Hai, Hiashi-sama."

Satisfied, the clan head followed Naruto behind one of the courtyards as the boy sneezed.

* * *

(Hyuga Compound)

Unknown to them behind the courtyard, Hinata was nervously glancing up at her mother wondering if she had just told her the truth.

"N-n-naruto-k-kun is g-going to l-live with u-us?" Hinata bit her nails nervously as her mother informed her. Hitomi found her daughter's reaction incredibly hilarious and burst out laughing.

"Oh come on now dear, would you prefer for him to be living all alone?" Hitomi teased. Hinata shook her head quickly before blushing and looking down once again. Hanabi chose this moment to appear and greet her older sibling and mother. She did so formally and bowed.

"Now Hanabi, there's no need to be so formal."

"Ka-san, why is nee-chan red like that? Is she sick?" Hanabi walked up worriedly to her older sister to feel her head. Once again their mother giggled like a child.

"Hanabi, your sister is like this because she likes a boy." Hitomi smirked evilly. Hanabi immediatly caught on.

"K-Ka-san!" Hinata nervously tugged her mother's robes as her sister leapt up to continue messing.

"Oooh," Hanabi poked her sister, "who is it hmmm?" Hinata looked into the eyes of her sister and she could swear she saw a hungry cat, getting ready for the kill.

Hitomi chose this time to intervene and spoke in a dismissive tone. "Oh, a certain blond boy with spiky hair."

Hanabi sat back and pretended to be deep in thought while thinking aloud. "Who might that be?"

"He wears orange too." Hitomi added.

"Ka-san Noooo!" Hinata squealed into her mother's leg.

"I can only think of one person then." Hanabi concluded.

"Hai Hanabi, it is Uzumaki Naruto. "

At that exact moment Naruto rounded the corner of the compound with Hiashi who was carrying what little Naruto had brought with him. "Was someone calling me?" He asked innocently. Hinata looked between her mother and Naruto before blushing a very dark red and promptly fainting. Naruto leapt toward her just in time to slow her fall while mother and daughter began giggling and exchanging knowing looks. Hiashi looked at his family and raised an eyebrow.

A few minutes later, Hinata opened her eyes again and stared at the cerulean blue eyes that gazed back at her. "Pretty eyes." She said admiringly.

"Huh, Hinata? Pretty eyes?" Naruto looked at her with a confused look on his face. When Hinata came to her senses she realized that those eyes could only belong to Naruto, and that she had just said her opinion out loud. This added to the fact that she was in someone's arms and the only arms close enough were... And she fainted again.

Naruto looked at Hinata obviously clueless regarding the current situation. Those few seconds he had gazed into her eyes. 'Pretty' he thought to him self. Which was why he had been shocked when Hinata mirrored his exact thoughts before fainting again. He shook her lightly before looking to her father for help.

Meanwhile, Hitomi had just whispered the situation to Hiashi who was doing his best to retain his composure while nodding in understanding. He got up to carry Hinata while the other two girls in his life laughed themselves silly.

Naruto swore he could see the begginings of a smile forming at the edges of Hiashi's mouth. To the clueless boy It seemed as if he was the only one who had absolutely no clue as to what was going on. But watching the laughter, Naruto felt at home and he smiled. I could live here he decided. His closest friend was here with him anyway and that in itself already served as a bonus.

Right before Hiashi entered his room with his daughter in his arms, he turned to Naruto. "Neji shall assist you with your bags and take you to your room." A boy around Naruto's age appeared from the courtyard and lifted Naruto's bags and began to lead the way. Naruto immediatly decided there was something he didn't like about this Neji. It was as if there was an air of arrogance that surrounded the Hyuga boy. Reluctantly, Naruto left the still laughing mother and daughter. Both seemed to be thrown into a renewed fit of laughter everytime he caught their eye.

Naruto knew who Neji was from the academy, since they were in the same class. The boy was a hyuga prodigy, on par even with Uchiha Sasuke. But other than that, Naruto had never had much reason to notice the boy dressed in traditional Hyuga robes similar to Hiashi's. When they arrived at his room, Neji simply dropped the bags and before walking away, informed Naruto that he was expected to dine with Hiashi and his family later that night. "Their dining hall is at the end of the corridor straight ahead." He pointed.

Naruto nodded. "Arigato" he managed to get in before the pale eyed boy walked back out through the door. Neji then turned around to face Naruto then scoffed. Naruto could read Neji's implications like a book. What did an inferior like you do to end up here? In that small second of time Naruto decided he and Neji would not be friends. He may not hate Neji, but he disliked him to a great degree. This was not the hate of the village those pale eyes signified. It was alleged superiority over the other. And Naruto would be having none of it. He shook his head from the distraction. It could wait. The boy clad in orange then started packing away his few clothes and belongings before lining up his ramen cups along the wall. When that was set he gave a nod of approval at his work then left his room in search of someone to talk to. Namely, Hinata.

On his way there he passed an old man heading in the opposite direction Naruto was. Time seemed to slow as the two males caught each other's eye and they both studied the other intently. Naruto looked at the white eyes of this man and forced himself not to cringe. Whereas on Hinata the white eyes were a symbol of beauty, on this man they were deadly weapons which he seemed to always wear. The older man was also watching him intently, not bothering to mask his distaste of the boy. Then they passed each other, slightly nudging each others' clothes, and the moment was gone.

Hyuga Hyouta turned to gaze at Naruto's back as the blonde boy walked away. He wondered what Hiashi had intended to bring the beast into the compound itself. How could they be sure it was safe? He'd have to wait and observe. If the boy was any sort of threat, he would deal with it. Satisfied with his conclusion he carried on on his way.

After a few minutes, Naruto managed to locate Hinata's room. He knocked gently on the door. "Hinata, may I come in?" Unknown to him on the other side of the door Hinata was desperately trying not to faint.

'He came looking for me!' One side of her squealed in delight. 'But for what?' another argued.

"Hinata, I just want to talk."

'He looked for me to talk to me!'

'Get a grip! You've been his best friend for two years!'

Her inner thoughts finished arguing and Hinata steadied herself to open the door a little to peek out. The second she saw Naruto's face she lost her nerve again and slammed the door in his face while she leant back against the door breathing heavily. Begging herself not to faint.

Meanwhile Naruto scratched his head in thought. 'What was that about?' He wondered. Well, he would wait till Hinata was ready to let him in.

When Hinata was certain she wouldn't faint she opened the door fully and she gasped in shock to see Naruto still standing there. Although she had resolved herself to not fainting in his presence, stuttering was a different issue altogether. "N-n-naruto-kun, y-you're still h-here." without anything to grab, Hinata's fingers were unsure of what to do and she was unconsciously playing with them while she avoided Naruto's gaze.

"Where else would I go Hinata-chan? You're my only friend here and I've got nobody else to talk to."

Hinata looked up to meet the blue eyes of Naruto. "O-of course, c-come in Naruto-kun." She opened the door wider to allow him entrance., closing the door after him.

Naruto took in the plain white room with the sole large wardrobe standing in the corner. Other than that it was simply a normal room save for the few plushies and the dressing table next to the wardrobe. Hinata took this chance to get out two cushions and set them on the floor at the centre of the room. She sat down on one of them and began playing with fingers again, unsure of what she was meant to do in a situation such as this one. Fortunately for her Naruto started conversation almost immediately while she sat back to listen as she always did. "Neh, Hinata-chan, how was your day?" he asked casually and plopped himself down on the remaining cushion.

Hinata looked up at Naruto as she answered but this was proving a difficult task, partly due to the fact that looking at the grin was distracting her from what she was trying to say while she was doing her best to answer his question. "It was f-fun Na-naruto-kun," she started glancing up then back down again almost immediately in embarrassment. His attention was all hers. Slapping herself mentally she looked back up. "A-after we met y-you this mo-morning, me and ka-san w-went grocery shopping"

"Did you get ramen?" Naruto asked with a hopeful expression on his face.

"No." Naruto's face dropped in disappointment while Hinata giggled at the blonde. "We got something better." The jinchuriki's face lit up in interest. "Cinnamon rolls." Naruto slammed his face in his hands while Hinata laughed a little more openly.

"How can cinnamon rolls be better than ramen?!" Naruto protested. "They are too sweet and they don't fill your stomach fast. They aren't even hot either."

"Maybe they won't fill a stomach as large as yours!" Hinata countered giggling harder. She had found a sudden urge to defend her favourite food and didn't even realize that she had stopped stuttering. "And I like sweet things!" she added defensively.

"You can't slurp cinnamon rolls!"

"You can't nibble ramen!"

"You need to eat them slowly to enjoy them!"

"You don't need to wait three minutes before eating one!"

The good natured carried on for another good minute as each strove to protect their favourite dish.

"Kami eats ramen! For all his meals!" Naruto laid his trump card.

"Then he hasn't tasted cinnamon rolls yet!" Hinata fired back before they called it a tie and collapsed in a heap of laughter. When they had calmed down enough Naruto sat up in a solemn tone. "Hinata-chan," he called out. Sensing the seriousness in the air, Hinata caught the atmosphere and sat up slowly.

"What do you know about the Kyubi?"

Hinata paused in thought. "At the academy it said that the kyubi no kitsune (nine-tailed fox) is a powerful bijuu that attacked the village. It killed many people before the fourth sacrificed himself to seal it away for good."

"What if that's not true?" Naruto replied. "What if he couldn't seal it away for ever?"

Hinata's eyes widened. "Then the Kyubi is free!"

"No, he needed to seal it in a newborn baby. That way the kyubi would have a living container, a jinchuriki."

It didn't take Hinata very long to figure out what Naruto was implying. "Naruto, you were born on the day the Kyubi attacked!"

Naruto nodded slowly. "That is why most of the villagers hate me." he concluded. "I'll understand if you hate me too. I am the Kyubi after all." Naruto's head hung in wait, ready for the rejection.

What he wasn't expecting was a warm hand to cup his cheek. The said hand also maneuvered his face so he was staring directly at a pair of white eyes. Hinata looked Naruto dead in the eye when she spoke. "You are not the Kyubi, Naruto-kun. I can tell the difference. The kyubi won't make me laugh, only you would. You have to be very stupid to think I'll hate you just because you have a kyubi within you. I don't talk with the kyubi or laugh with it. And I don't spend my day wishing I had more time with it. It's all you Naruto-kun."

Naruto placed his hand over hers. "Thank you Hinata-chan. As long as I have you then, I don't care much about the village as long as you're with me." Naruto stared into her eyes and she stared back, mirroring his thoughts.

"It's a promise then, Naruto-kun. As long as I can, I'll stay by your side." Hinata said with a smile. She had made Naruto happy and he had just said she was special. She really did feel special.

Naruto grinned back. And proceeded to tell her about his day. He included every little detail from discovering the cube to the conversation in his head while Hinata was more than happy to listen.

When he was done, Naruto suddwnly decided that he felt bored. "Hinata-chan, there's still sometime before dinner. Let's do something fun." He took her hand and gently pulled the shy girl to her feet.

(10 minutes later)

Hanabi knocked on Hinata's door. It seemed awfully quiet in there which was weird. Considering the fact that arguably the loudest boy in the village was in the same room as her sister. Curious, she peeked in if just to satisfy her nosiness. Inside, a blindfolded Naruto had his arms held out in front of him, searching for something. Her elder sister was quietly moving around and staying out of Naruto's reach without so much as a sound. When Hinata caught Hanabi's eye, she raised a finger to her lips. Hanabi walked in as silent as a ghost but giggled when Naruto somehow managed to connect his head to the edge of the wardrobe, even when his hands were in front of him.

Naruto heard a giggle and in less than a second, the one who let out the giggle was compressed in his arms. "Got you now Hinata-chan!" he shouted victoriously and began tickling the girl. The subject he was crushing was squealing and squirming in his arms. "Nato-kun!" it yelled desperately, "Stop!"

Naruto complied, but for a different issue. 'Nato-kun?' he thought. 'Hinata doesn't call me that.' He pulled off the blindfold and studied who he was holding. "You're not Hinata-Chan." he said after a moment.

"Of course not!" the little girl responded while crossing her arms and putting on a false angry face.

Hinata had found this entire exchange to be worth a laugh. "Why are you here Hanabi?"

''Nee-san, we are being called for dinner now. And we are supposed to bring the colourful thing as well." As expected Naruto retaliated almost as soon as Hanabi had finished talking.

"Colourful thing?! I'm not colourful! I'm only wearing orange ya know! And this 'thing' has a name! It's Naruto ya know!"

"Nato?"

"No! Na-ru-to. Naruto!"

"Nato, Naruto. Same thing Nato-nii-san." Naruto sweatdropped. Hinata took his arm. "Come on Naruto-kun, tou-san and ka-san are waiting." Naruto was more than happy to oblige. Hinata on the other hand was glad she was walking in front as she was blushing furiously while her little sister skipped behind the pair.

In the dining room, Hiashi and Hitomi patiently waited for the kids to arrive. When Hinata opened the door, both parents managed to catch site of the linked arms before Hinata quickly disentangled herself. Both parents then exchanged knowing glances and smiled. Hinata sat beside her mother and Hanabi sat opposite the two. Hiashi was at the head of the rectangle table and opposite him sat Naruto. "Hello scary man." Naruto greeted happily. Hiashi was sitting up with his back very straightand his arms crossed to look more intimidating. But apparently, it didn't seem to be working on Naruto who greeted him with a large grin. He didn't approve of the way he was addressed but he could not really blame the kid.

"Naruto, since you are going to be living here with us, I have decided that it is only rightwe teach you some proper manners." Hiashi started. He chuckled when he saw the look on the boy's face.

"I didn't mean it like that Naruto! It's just that it is our duty to make sure that you have such things." Hiashi then smirked at the boy. "There has never been a Hokage without good manners."

The blonde boy's sullen face lit up instantly. "Alright scary man, where do we start?" Naruto was now sitting bolt upright. Attentive.

Hiashi frowned. "First things first, you address me as 'Hiashi-sama' and my wife as 'Hitomi-sama'."

"Understood, scary.. Uh.. Hiashi-Sama."

"When answering or responding, a simple yes or no with the person you are addressing and the right honorific should be used."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama." Naruto added upon the effect by slightly bowing his head and keeping his hands at his sides. Hiashi noticed the slight gesture and silently approved. He would catch on fast.

"Are we done for now?" Naruto asked. Hiashi gave a slight nod. "Itadakimasu!" Naruto yelled as he picked up and snapped his chopsticks. Hiashi sweatdropped.

"Naruto-kun, you are supposed to always be calm and patient when talking to elders and you should always be polite. And the head of the table will say Itadakimasu when the time is right." Hinata scolded Naruto who had his mouth half full with his first bite."

"Gome, Hinata-chan," he replied with his mouth still half full.

Hinata giggled. "And don't talk with your mouth full." Naruto quickly swallowed his first bite.

"Gome, Hiashi-sama." Naruto bowed his head slightly.

"Apology accepted Naruto. Now then, itadakimasu." Hiashi said before he took in a morsel. All eyes then turned to Naruto who was sitting still. "Naruto, why aren't you eating yet?" Hiashi asked.

Naruto scratched his head with one finger while looking sheepishly. "Eto, I don't really know when to start."

This time it was Hanabi who giggled. "After the head of the table gives permission to eat, then the guest is expected to take the next bite after him before the family."

"And don't eat too fast, Naruto-kun." Hinata added. Naruto nodded in understanding and began eating slowly. He was aware of just how much he had embarrassed himself in front of his foster family and he was trying not to make any more mistakes.

When he had finished what was on his plate he was about to reach over to get a second helping when Hinata stopped him. "Naruto-kun, you should never reach over the table, ask the person closest to what you need to pass it to you."

Naruto glanced over at the plate that directly in front of Hiashi. "Hiashi-sama, may I have the barbecue." Hiashi picked up the plate and passed it over.

"Naruto, I have decided that Hinata shall teach you manners whenever she wishes."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama."

The clan head looked to the boy with respect, he was catching on very fast.

After dinner, Hiashi watched his daughter leave with Naruto to her room. He vaguely heard something about extra behaviour lessons while Naruto grumbled.

Hitomi nudged her husband. "What's on your mind?"

"For some reason I can't imagine Kushina as a mother." Hiashi sat back. The red habanero."

"She was unpredictable, who knows? She could probably be a better mother than most."

After a while of friendly chatter with his wife, Hiashi stood up and led her to Hinata's room where the children were sure. The clan head was carrying a glass of water with him as he felt a little dehydrated. Long before they reached Hinata's room they could already hear Naruto's protests. The husband and wife looked at each other and laughed. The protests died down as they neared the room and the couple took a peek inside.

A branch member had already put a small square table in the centre of the room where paper and pencils were laid out. They saw Hinata watching while Naruto was busying himself with something on the paper.

Hiashi walked in and saw Naruto's work. "That's interesting Naruto, what are you drawing?" Hiashi asked before taking a sip.

"Tou-san, Naruto-kun is writing, not drawing." Hinata stated. Hiashi choked on the water and took a second glance at the paper. He looked from the paper to Naruto's glaring face and put his hands up. "Sorry Naruto, that didn't look anything like writing and I couldn't read it! I mean, who else can read it?" he looked to his wife desperately.

"I can." Hinata volunteered. She blushed while reading it. "It says, Hinata-chan I-is p-pretty."

"Hmm, now why did you write that Naruto?" Hitomi teased. The boy shrugged.

"It was the first thing that came to mind." he answered. Next to him Hinata went an even darker shade of red.

Hinata's mother then looked over to her husband who was staring at his daughter open mouthed. "How could you read that?" he mumbled, clearly amazed.

Hitomi whispered in his ear, "Same way Kushina could read Minato's horrible handwriting."

After a brief moment Hiashi shook himself out of his stupor. "Hinata, you have an extra task aside from teaching this boy manners. You are going to help Naruto improve his handwriting." Naruto opened his mouth to protest while Hinata answered her dad politely. "Hai, tou-san."

"Furthermore, Hitomi shall review both of you after everyday at the academy to make sure you are learning." Naruto's forehead met the table rather quickly and rather fast and the other three spectators winced.

"And if Naruto shows good progress, my husband will treat him to as much ramen as Naruto desires." Hitomi added mischievously. Naruto's face shot up and looked to Hiashi to confirm the fact. it was the clan heads turn to feel like smashing his head on the table.

"Thank you Hiashi-sama!" Naruto cheered. "I'll do my best! Believe it!"

Hiashi smiled while his left eye twitched. The boy had a weird sort of inspiration.

"Fine." the clan head grudgingly agreed. "But its getting late, get ready to sleep both of you." and with that said Hiashi marched out of the room.

"Hai, goodnight Hinata-chan, sleep tight." Naruto flashed her one of his signature grins before following her dad out of the room. Hitomi gave her daughter a glance and Hinata was in a trance. Then she suddenly snapped out of it and saw her mother smiling at her. "Ka-san!" Hinata squealed before burying her face in the cushion she had been sitting on. Hitomi laughed at her daughter before exiting the room as well.

When her mother left, Hinata cleared the table of its contents slowly until she came to the paper Naruto had written on. She smiled as she put it on her pocket. 'He thinks I'm pretty.' she took this thought with her as she laid out her bed for the night. This was a great day, she thought before closing her eyes.

Naruto was going through a similar line of thought as he prepared his bed in his room. 'I have a family now.' he smiled at the thought. 'And even though I have the kyubi, Hinata-chan doesn't hate me.' He happily closed his eyes for the night. 'Hinata-chan...'

* * *

(The next morning)

"Naruto-kun."

"Hinata-chan."

"Naruto-kun, we're gonna be late for the academy!"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around groggily. "It's still early Hinata-chan." Naruto sighed as he pulled the covers back over his head.

Hinata looked at Naruto and in his pajamas and laughed. The civilian shirt and shorts were just fine, but on his head there was a green frog hat.

"Naruto-kun, if you don't get up tou-san is coming to get you himself." At this Naruto shot up and started readying his school bag at record- breaking speed. Half way in taking his shirt off he realized Hinata was still in the room blushing furiously. "Eto, Hinata-chan, you can wait for me at the gate."

"H-h-hai!" Hinata took of out of the room. Naruto stared after her for a minute before changing into his signature orange suit.

(At the gate)

Hinata waited patiently for Naruto, he wouldn't take very long. While she waited she spotted Neji heading toward her at the gate.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Neji-nii-san." Hinata greeted Neji as he passed her throughthe gate. The older boy stopped and glared at her, taking in her school bag and normal attire.

"So you are still going to the academy huh." he observed.

"H-Hai, Neji-nii-san. Why?" Hinata looked at him confused. They had been going to the same class for the last two years.

"You are weak, Hinata-sama, there is no point in your going to the academy. You are destined to be weak and you will stay weak, no matter what you do." He glared at her as he stated what he thought was an obvious fact. Neji's words cut through Hinata like a knife. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes.

"That's not true!" Both Hyugas turned to the source of the voice. Naruto was marching up to them angrily. "No matter what you say, Hinata is not weak. Do not mistake kind for weak." Naruto growled.

"Ah, another one who pursues an impossible and useless dream." Neji countered.

"I don't care if it is impossible, me and Hinata-chan will never give up. That is our ninja way!"

"Your view on life is foolish and pathetic. You have one destiny and that destiny is to fail."

"Well if you are so high and mighty what are you doing here talking to us? Branch member." Naruto fired back.

Neji's eyes narrowed before he decided that these two were beneath him. He turned on his heels and headed toward the academy. Hinata was biting her nails again, unsure of how to react to the current situation. "No one should hurt you Hinata-chan, I'll make sure they won't. I promise." Naruto held out his hand to hers. "Come, there's another way to school."

Hinata took a second look at him before laughing.

"Nani? Hinata-chan, what's funny." Hinata laughed even harder at the confused look he had on before pointing at his head. The frog pajama hat he had slept in was still perched on the spiky blonde hair.

"Gah, I argued with Neji with this on!" He stared unbelievably at the hat in his hands before shoving it in his school bag. After this Naruto offered his hand again and Hinata accepted it as they took of down the road. She watched the back of his spiky, blonde hair rustle in the wind as she recalled what he had said moments before. "Never give up. That is our ninja way."

She looked back up at Naruto. 'Yes,' she thought. 'Our ninja way Naruto-kun. Ours.' she clenched her fist, as long as Naruto kept moving ahead, she would as well.

* * *

(At the academy)

With Hinata's hand still in his own, Naruto bravely walked into his classroom. The two stopped at the door and surveyed the classroom, searching for a place they could sit. Since they were the last in the year group to arrive, the only spaces available were the two at the back of the classroom on the left.

"Oi, Naruto. You made it!" Choji greeted them happily as he munched on another bag of chips. Next to Choji, Shikamaru opened a lazy eye and waved a little. The two had insisted on becoming Naruto's friends despite what the rest of the village thought. Naruto didn't seem that bad to them. Although they had not gotten as close as Hinata had, they were still his friends. Without letting go of Hinata's hand, Naruto waved back with a large smile on his face.

'He's not letting go of my hand.' Was running through Hinata's head. She followed him up as he unconciously led her up to their seat. While he opened up into a conversation with Choji, Hinata happily stood next to him holding his hand before someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned to see Kiba grinning wickedly at her.

She immediately protested in a whisper. "N-no, K-kiba kun. It's not like that!" While she saw Naruto as the boy she admired, Kiba was the big brother she never had and he seemed to have all the instincts that came around being one. Being close to Hinata, Kiba was then ensnared into a friendship with the loudmouth. But he wasn't complaining. Second only to Hinata, he was Naruto's closest friend. The grin never left his face. He pointed at the shy girl's hand which was still clasped around Naruto's "Hmm, really? I don't think so, right Akamaru?" The happy bark the little dog on Kiba's head gave in confirmation made Hinata turn an even darker red.

The bark attracted Naruto's attention. "Yo, Kiba." Kiba smiled and walked up to his best friend to join the conversation. "Should I tell him Hinata?" Kiba teased her as he walked past. Hinata gave an almost silent squeak in horror as the grin on Kiba's face spread wider.

"Huh, you want to tell me something Hinata-chan?" Naruto gazed at her. She looked to Kiba silently pleading for mercy. "I-i-i a-am going t-to sit now Na-na-naruto kun." She manged to get out before scurrying to her seat.

Kiba watched her in amusement. "What was that about?" Naruto asked. One look on the clueless face the other boy was wearing forced Kiba to double over in laughter while Akamaru hung on to the Kiba's head for fear of falling off. Hinata sunk lower in her seat, fearing the worst. Shikamaru opened an eye again and sighed, "Troublesome."

A few minutes later, Iruka and Mizuki walked into the room and after another few minutes they had managed to get everyone under control. Mizuki started calling out the register. Iruka had been watching Mizuki. Ever since Iruka had taken Naruto to Ichiraku's, he had warmed up to the boy. He had realized how unfair everyone had been treating the child and decided to stand up for him. Since then, he noticed things he wouldn't have noticed before. Such at the fact that his colleague hated the young blonde.

"Mizuki." Iruka heard Naruto interrupt the registration process with no respect for his teacher and Iruka was curious as to why. "You skipped my name again."

Mizuki's snarl didn't escape Iruka. There was bad blood in Mizuki and he could feel it.

"I know where my name is supposed to be and you didn't call it out."

"Shut up."

Iruka took the register before anything serious could take place and immediately called out Uzumaki Naruto. At which the young one raised his hand excitedly.

When he was done he indicated the schedule for the day. "Normal class lessons till the time is up. After the break you will line up here and we shall take the throwing weapons class. When we have finished then we will have taijutsu sparring. These excercises will also help us to gauge what level of attention you may need. Clear?" The majority of the class nodded. "Ok, on with the first lesson." The class collectively groaned. Iruka's classwork was rumoured to be downright boring. And they had all been with Iruka before. Mizuki scowled and before taking up a desk to help supervise the lecture.

At the back of the room, Naruto had laid his bag in front of him to use as a pillow. Noticing this Hinata tapped his shoulder, "Maybe you should start listening Naruto, ka-san will be reviewing us later and she can be very scary." Naruto groaned at first. Then he vaguely remembered when Hinata's mother had save him the day before from the man with the sword. He sat up straight to attention and actually opened his notebook to take notes.

At the front of the class Iruka noticed Naruto's change in behaviour and he smiled. At last, Naruto seemed to be headed the right way.

At the back of the classroom, the desk in the center was shared by Kiba and Shino. Who were next to Naruto. Shino's thoughts were not on the lecture. More instead on the talk his parents had had with him the night before.

* * *

(Flashback)

"Shino." Shino's dad called.

"Yes, dad." he responded when he came close enough.

"Sit down, your mother and I have to talk with you. Why? Because it is a matter of concern for us regarding you." Shino complied with his dad'd demands and took the seat opposite of them.

"Do you have any friends?" his mother started the conversation.

Shino thought about this. "Yes, if you are referring to my classmates at the academy. Why yes? It's because they are the closest things I have to friends as they keep me company."

His parents looked at each other with worry. His father decided to try and clear his son's concepts. "Shino, simply because they are with you doesn't mean that they are your friends. Why? It's because friends are people who you go to to laugh and play. Friends are people who will protect you when you need it and will stick by you."

"Then how can I get them?"

"You cannot just get friends, Shino. Why? Because the feeling must be the same on both sides, where they care for you and you care for them."

"Then I have no friends. Why? Because I do not feel that way for anybody and nobody seems to feel that way for me." he saw the looks his parents shared once again. "But tomorrow I will look for friends. Why? Because it will make you happy to see me with friends. But I will have my own way of finding them. Why? Because it will make me more comfortable."

His parents nodded in approval. "Good luck Shino."

* * *

(End Flashback)

So now here he was at the back with a splendid view of everyone. Not many noticed him because he almost never spoke and didn't seem to interact very much with others. One reason he hadn't joined in was because he was afraid of how they would respond. He knew many people didn't respond well to bugs. Too bad since he was from the Aburame clan. The Aburame used insects in battle or in scouting and were very effective. The downside to this was that the insects fed on his chakra and therefore lived on his body. This would not sit well with most people.

He had already thought about his test he was going to give. He would see how each of his peers reacted to different bugs which he sent out. Shino was very discouraged by most of the results that came in. He had brought in a variety of different species other than his regular beetles.

The first one had been a girl at the front of the class who wore her hair in two buns which made her look much more like a kid. Shino sent down a fly that buzzed in front of her, taking her view off the board. She had been writin down a great deal at this point and Tenten decided that she had had it with the pest. She raised her pencil and flicked. Shino gasped silently as his connection to the fly broke. This candidate would not do.

Next he tried it on the boy seated next to the girl. Neji was staring at Iruka. He didn't need to take notes. The genius just committed them to memory. Shino had sent him a small grasshopper. The hyuga didn't even look or hesitate. Whereas Tenten had used her pencil, Neji had quickly used his finger to send the poor bug flying. This one wouldn't do.

Then came a boy with a bowler cut and very thick eyebrows. His eyes were also incredibly round. He had only been carefully swatting at the fly with no harm. But after a few minutes the boy's patience wore thin and he slapped the fly very hard. Another failure.

Shino turned to the other prodigy. Uchiha Sasuke. For being a prodigy, the Uchiha was no better than Neji.

Then came a girl with pink hair. She was dreamily gazing at Sasuke. However when she saw the beetle crawling on her book she quickly picked it up and slammed it closed before turning back to admiring Sasuke. Shino winced at the feedback he received.

There was a blond haired girl sitting next to the pink haired one. This one was combing her hair as tho it was an art. She stopped and inspected the comb before giving a small frightened shriek and tossing the comb across the room. Definitely a no.

He continued this throughout the year group slowly, feeling what little hope he had had crushed. Then he noticed the boy next to him. Kiba. The Inuzuka boy was freely letting a millipede crawl over his fingers. He was playing with it. Letting it go under and over his fingers. He seemed to be enjoying the insect. Even the white puppy on Kiba's head was watching the insect, fascinated. Shino smiled. One friend was possible.

He then leaned back to get a view of the only other two in the class he hadn't yet tested. Naruto and Hinata. He knew them of course. The blonde boy clad in the orange jumpsuit was recognizable all throughout Konoha. And the other girl was apparently a very close friend. He stared at them. They seemed, nice. And comforting. He prayed they would pass his test. And just as luck would have it, his prayers were answered.

Naruto saw the spider crawling up his arm. 'Hmmm, what are you doing here all alone?' He wondered. He gently picked up the spider and placed it on his open palm and watched it. Similarly, at the same moment, Hinata had found a beetle walking across her table. She also picked it up and began stroking it.

"Neh, Hinata-chan, look at this." Naruto held out the spider for her to see.

"Naruto-kun, I've got one to." Hinata replied holding out her beetle. The pair then noticed Kiba with his.

"Kiba!" Naruto whispered across. "We need to get them out, they aren't safe in here!"

Kiba sighed sadly. "As much as I hate to see it go, you're right. But how do we get them out?" Naruto flashed one of his signature grins and held out his hand. Kiba caught the message and placed his centipede next to Naruto's spider before the loudmouth turned to Hinata who placed her beetle next to the other two.

Shino was surprised to say the least. These three hadn't only passed his expectations on letting the bugs survive, they even cared as much to try and save the bugs. Since genin teams worked with four, he would pray that he ended up on the same team they did. They would make truly great friends.

Unaware of Shino's interest in him, Naruto stood up, stretched his arms and yawned. The lecture stopped as everyone turned to look at the dead last. He then began walking straight for the window. Everyone stared in shock as he opened it and seemed to begin climbing out.

"Naruto! Where do you think you're going?" Mizuki snarled. Invisible to everyone -but Shino, Kiba and Hinata- the bugs crawled of his arms and out the window.

"Can't you see Mizuki? I'm going out, I need some fresh air." Naruto countered dismissively, obviously buying the insects some time. Everyone stared at the open disrespect of a sensei.

"Sit down now!" Mizuki roared, frightening most of the genin.

Naruto scoffed. "Make me." And Naruto was just about to slip out the window when he was stopped by a few words from Iruka. "Naruto, please take you seat."

Naruto got back inside and closed the window. The way he answered caught everyone of guard at the respect he displayed. "Hai, Iruka-sensei. I apologize." Naruto reponded slightly bowing his head before taking his seat.

Iruka could feel the anger building up inside Mizuki. He had to diffuse this. His colleague was setting a bad example. "Mizuki, I was supposed to have a meeting with the hokage. Since I am still here, can you quickly check up on it for me?" Mizuki sent him a glare before leaving the class and Iruka was happy it had been just that. "On with the lecture then."

Shino was staring at Naruto in awe, he went through all that to make sure the bugs were safe. He would speak with them later.

At the end of the lecture everyone had left, eager to go out for the break leaving Hinata, Naruto and Kiba the last to be heading out.

"Excuse me, may we speak?" Shino caught their attention before they went through the door.

"Sure, why not." Naruto replied. The cheesy grin on his face getting through to Shino.

"Why didn't you hurt the bugs over there? During the lesson. You even almost got yourself into trouble for helping them get away."

Naruto was rubbing the back of his head looking sheepish. "Well they wern't doing anything wrong. And I had a feeling if we let them go around the class they might get hurt."

"Do you all like bugs." Shino addressed them as a whole group.

"I'm fine with them." Naruto replied.

"I don't mind them." Hinata added.

Kiba shrugged. "Depends on if its trying to bite me." The three laughed and their laughter stirred feelings in Shino he didn't know were there. He wanted to laugh with them.

"Why are you asking anyway?" Naruto turned to look back at Shino.

"I am interested in making friends. Why? Bug users like me do not tend to have many friends." Shino answered, waiting to gauge his reaction.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and and Shino feared the worst. Rejection was eminent. Naruto then leapt up and down. "Wow, that's awesome you know! Come with us, I wanna see what you can do with those bugs!" Naruto took his arm and led the way. Shino stopped in his tracks.

"You are not bothered? The insects I use live on me." And as if to prove the fact, he sent a few insects out of his sleeves.

"Friend's don't care about that kind of stuff." Naruto said excitedly. Shino was gaping at him.

"W-we are already friends?" Shino asked, still not quite believing it.

"Sure! Why not?" Naruto smiled as he draped his arm around Shino's shoulders. "And it's not everyday you see someone who can control bugs."

"Not in Shino's case, he goes home to see them everyday!" This sent the group into more laughter. With Naruto laughing right next to him, he looked at the giggling Hinata and the laughing Kiba. He felt warm inside. 'So this is what friends can be like.' he thought to himself.

Hinata finally spoke. "Shino-kun, would you like to spend you break with us?"

"And show us some cool bug tricks?" Naruto pleaded.

Shino nodded. "Yatta! Let's go!" Naruto leapt up into the air.

Shino felt he should warn them. "I don't have very good social skills."

"Then we'll just have to teach you!" Naruto piped up. "Now let's go, I'm STARVING!"

The other three were more than happy to follow. And it was on that day, though unofficial, Team 8 had formed.

* * *

(In the grounds)

Shino observed most of the other groups of children over the place. None seemed to have it as lively as his group. Kiba dragged him over to a side as Naruto went to pull a prank. Hinata was still under a cherry tree and was wondering what the other two were talking about while she watched Naruto slowly approach Sasuke from behind.

Then Shino came up to Hinata with as tight a poker face as ever. "Hinata, why do you not tell him you like him?" Hinata looked into the sunglasses in shock as she blushed, then to Kiba who was grinning smugly and leaning against the tree.

"N-no Shino-k-kun. It's just that..."

"You, do not like him?"

"N-no, I-I do l-l-like Na-naruto-kun!" Hinata was on the verge of fainting in embarrassment. Kiba had used Shino's inexperience to his advantage and she was now a deer trapped in the headlights.

"To my understanding, if you are interested you must inform him. Before someone else takes him away." As far as Shino knew, he was helping a friend.

"I agree completely." Kiba teased. Appearing next to Shino with his arm's crossed, smirking triumphantly.

"If you have trouble telling him, then I shall glady do it."

"No!"

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Naruto came up to them and took in every little detail. "Aha!" he pointed accusingly at them. "You found out Hinata-chan's crush!" He walked up to Hinata and poked her in the ribs teasingly. "Who is it? Who's the lucky guy?" By now Kiba was howling with laughter clutching his sides while Hinata was turning a red with a desperate look on her face.

Shino was surprised to find himself chuckling. The implications of what Kiba had done had just sunk in. In the middle of laughter Kiba managed to get out, "I'll tell him!" Hinata looked desperately back from Naruto to Kiba and back and she promptly fainted. For the first time in his life Shino had found something funny enough to send him joining Kiba, both of them howling in laughter. The confused look on Naruto's face both before and after he had caught Hinata only adding to the fuel to their fire.

"Kiba you're evil!" he wheezed in between fits of laughter. His new found friends had certainly made life much more interesting.

Back in the Academy training grounds.

Kiba and Shino had finally managed to calm down while Naruto had not one clue as to why they had been laughing. To make matters worse, Hinata seemed to be hiding behind Shino and Kiba.

* * *

(Later)

They were waiting patiently for Iruka to call out their names. They would then shoot kunai and shurikens at given targets and would be judged on their accuracy. Shino had already had his turn and had scored average. Out of ten shuriken, three had hit the target. Four were slightly off course and the last three had missed. With the kunai, he had yielded a little better. Four had found the target and the other six were close.

"Haruno Sakura!" Iruka called. Everyone winced at the scream that followed. The pink haired girl all but ran to the front screaming, "Watch me Sasuke! I'll show you how strong I am!" The Uchiha in question looked embarrassed. "Hn."

Naruto leaned over and whispered something to Hinata who giggled. Curious, Kiba leaned over along with Shino to ask. Hinata gigled again. "Banshee." They weren't very surprised when she got less than average results.

Hinata had passed just as well as Shino and blushed when Naruto praised her. Kiba on the other hand completely missed all his targets with every shot. He failed just as badly when given a second chance. "Beat that Naruto!" Kiba walked proudly back grinning. "Was that a challenge Kiba?" Naruto grinned back.

"You bet!"

When it came to be Sasuke's turn, the boys groaned as the noise level rose drastically due to screaming girls. While Naruto had his ears covered, Shino took his chance to ask Hinata a question which had always bothered him in a way.

"Hinata, what is it that girls find so exciting in Sasuke."

Hinata thought for a minute. "I don't really know, I have never bothered to give him my attention. She glanced back over to Naruto who still had his hands over his ears.

Shino smiled. "I can see that."

Realizing what she had just done, Hinata blushed again. "L-l-ook, he's st-started." She pointed out, desperate to change the subject.

Sasuke took a deep breath, even without the sharingan, he was still talented. In the shuriken test, eight had hit the target and two had almost made it in. With the kunai, nine were dead straight and the last one was debatable as it was at the very edge. Satisfied, the fan girls cheered while Sasuke himself covered his ears and walked over to Naruto. "Sorry for the noise, it seems unavoidable."

Naruto laughed. "Can't be helped. You have a girly face."

Sasuke pouted, "It's not my fault, you look good too."

"I don't exactly have any girl that seems to want to date me." Naruto countered.

A little away from the conversation Hinata sneezed. Kiba and Shino, who had been in great positions to watch and listen to both events simultaneously, burst out laughing. Naruto was a blockhead, but this was taking it to new heights.

"You need to start working harder Naruto, you're gonna stay in the academy at this rate." Sasuke pleaded like and older brother.

"You don't need to tell me that! I'm already working hard enough on the bunshin. But all I get is this. Bunshin no jutsu." Naruto proceeded to dislay his failed bunshin. "See, a failure." Almost immediately in his own angry voice, he heard the words, "What failure?"

"That's funny, I didn't say that."

And again in the same voice that had spoken earlier. "Of course you didn't, I did!"

Hinata, Kiba, Shino and Sasuke all stared in awe. A perfect copy of Naruto was arguing with the original.

"Am I dreaming?" the original asked. The clone slapped him, hard.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Kai!" The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Ok, that was really weird." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. Sasuke patted him on the back. "Looks like dead last finally did something." he smirked. "Hey!" Naruto was about to protest when Iruka called his name.

"Let's just get this done with." He took ten shuriken from Iruka and looked at the targets. Due to previous encounters, Iruka thought it was wise to stand behind Naruto.

The blonde boy took a deep breath and stared where he was aiming at. Then suddenly his eyesight was tinged orange. He didn't notice it at first, but when he realized everything was moving in slow motion he got confused. Normally his foolish throw would be done in no more than a few seconds. But this time the throw was taking so much longer. He kept his eyes locked on the target and saw the shuriken fly in a close knit group. Since everything was going slow he watched their flight as they spun achingly slow. Then they hit the target and his eyesight was back to normal. 'What happened there?' he thought. Then he stared with shock along with everyone else. All ten shuriken had struck dead centre of the target. A little shaken, he pretented nothing had happened and collected ten kunai from Iruka for the next bit. Before firing, he swung his arm in front of his face. It didn't seem to move in slow motion. He then focused on the next set of targets. His vision turned orange again. He swung his hand in front of him and this time it moved painstakingly slow. He then threw the kunai and he wasn't all too surprised when they found their mark.

The same couldn't be said of the others. They had all been stunned into silence. 'His throwing stance was PERFECT!' Iruka carefully observed. He had watched the arm swing back and watched its swing. The careful flick of the wrist and dexterity of the fingers. Other than that the accuracy of the shots were the quality of having a doujutsu aid.

Mizuki couldn't believe his eyes. What had just happened? Unable to come to a conclusion he gave Naruto a second set of kunai and shuriken and asked him to repeat. Then metal clanged on metal as the second set struck the first set of thrown weapons, digging them further into the wood. Naruto would have shouted out and bragged but this was too much. As much as he had wanted this, for it to come this suddenly to him was scary. At least his friends congratulated him.

"Moving on!" Iruka called out. "Taijutsu sparring, Mizuki-san shall call out the fights."

The still slightly bewildered group of students headed towards the drawn circles in the ground and gathered around the largest one.

"You will only be paired up against one person today, each of you. You may forfeit at any time if you do not think you can win." Iruka declared.

"First fight, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba."

The two friends smiled and took up their stances.

Kiba started the match with a kick aimed at Shino's chest. The bug user stepped to the side and grabbed Kiba's leg towards him. Thrown out of balance, the Inuzuka spun in desperation and very nearly managed to land a stray foot into Shino's face. Shino raised his left arm to block the foot and let Kiba drop to the ground where he rolled and quickly took up stance again.

This time Kiba began using his arms. He swung a left hook at Shino who raised his right arm ninetey degrees to block the punch. He wasn't quite so lucky blocking Kiba's follow up.

After his arm had been caught, Kiba swung on the balls of his feet and landed a heel on Shino's left shoulder, throwing the bug user off balance. "I forfeit." Shino exclaimed, holding his shoulder. Taijutsu had never been his area of expertise. He shook hands with. "That was quick." Mizuki commented.

"Next match, Shikamaru and Choji."

Shikamaru looked up, "What a drag." he muttered. "I forfeit."

Mizuki scowled at Iruka. "And this is what happens when there is the forfeiting option." Iruka shrugged. He had already said the rules.

"Next fight, Hyuga Neji and Rock Lee."

"Yosh! Now is my time to prove my taijutsu skills. If I cannot do that then I will do five hundred pushups!" Lee exclaimed. Iruka face palmed. Two months with Maito Gai and the older ninja had his influence already rubbing onto the boy who -to make matters worse- was now clad in the exact same green spandex suit.

"You are no match for a Hyuga." Neji declared as he took up his gentle fist stance and activated his byakugan.

"We shall see, Neji-san." Lee bravely set up his own stance.

"Begin."

Almost immediately, Lee launched himself into the air and bombarded Neji with three dive kicks, alternating legs and spinning to give extra momentum. And he did this with dangerous speed. The Hyuga grunted in pain as the forearms he had raised to protect himself were battered with immense force. He wisely took a step back to avoid any more damage which also allowed Lee to end up back on the ground. No sooner than he had landed, Lee was already throwing very fast and powerful punches across and Neji was disappointed that some were slipping through and actually hurting him. He was too absorbed in watching Lee's punches hoping to block them that when the bowler cut boy feinted a jab with his right arm, Neji instinctively raised his arm to cover his face and Lee took the oppurtunity to kick his ribs. When Neji recoiled in pain, he left his face open as he bent low, which was a big mistake. Lee's follow up to the kick had been a roundhouse kick that slammed straight into Neji's jaw.

The bewildered Hyuga looked up to see the excited boy jumping up and down, waiting for him. He had to do something. It was time to disable the other boy's tenkutsus. When he stood back up Lee rushed him once again but Neji was ready. He caught Lee's right hand punch with his left hand and reached out to disable Lee's other arm. However he was no prepared to have Lee pull back his captured fist very quickly. The next thing he knew he collided with Lee's bicep and for the second time in the fight he was down on the ground in pain.

He stood up again, he had to do this. He was a Hyuga! He would find a way. Neji settled into his Gentle Fist stance one last time. He ducked under Lee's punch this time instead of attempting to block and reached out for Lee's shoulder while the boy had no chance to dodge. He pumped chakra, through the tenkutsu on Lee's shoulder when his hand connected and the boy's arm fell limply down at his side.

Since Neji was now behind him Lee spun around trying to backhand him with his other arm. The Hyuga genius intercepted it and touched the other shoulder. He smirked as both of Lee's hands dropped by his side, useless. He had won. Or so he thought. Since he had let down his guard, Lee leapt up once again into the air, kicking Neji in the chin while he was at it. It was a vicious uppercut. But before anything else happened, Lee bicycle kicked Neji's chest repeatedly in the air. Right as gravity took ahold of him again, Lee performed a powerful roundhouse kick that connected with Neji's jaw.

Neji had had it, he was in pain. The second his face hit the dirt he was up again, on the offensive. He lept toward Lee and in the space of a few seconds had shut down his legs. "You are powerful, but you have been destined to lose." And with those closing words it was lights out for Lee.

"That was an intense round, that there was a good example of the Gentle Fist." Iruka stated.

Mizuki smirked. "Next round, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto smiled at the older boy, "Come on, I'll try not to hurt you too bad. Your girls would kill me." He used his thumb to point over his shoulder at the screaming girls.

Sasuke laughed. "Come on then, let's see what you've got."

"Begin."

All of a sudden, Naruto noticed his vision turn orange again. Sure enough, Sasuke and everything else was moving slowly once again. Normally Sasuke's punches would have been too fast to follow, but this wasn't normal. Naruto noticed he coukd see exactly where the punches were going and he had all the time in the world to think of the proper block and counter. He began matching Sasuke blow for blow while everyone stared in amazement.

"His taijutsu form is excellent and his reaction time has also drastically improved!" Iruka whispered to Mizuki.

Kiba was staring in awe at his friend. "I need to train harder."

The noise over Sasuke had died down when everyone realized that Naruto was holding his own. Besides Neji, no one else in class had managed to give Sasuke a good spar. Sakura started another chant with which most of the other girls followed. "Sasuke! Sasuke! Sasuke! Come on Sasuke beat the baka!"

Sakura turned to Hinata who was watching the fight, but clearly not joining in the cheering. She knew Hinata was shy so she decided to try and coax her. "Come on, cheer with us, that way Sasuke will win and prove he's the best!"

"I don't care anout Sasuke, I want Naruto to win." Hinata answered without taking her eyes off the match. Sasuke was not able to land a hit but neither was Naruto. It seemed like a very even match.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Sakura yelled. "Sasuke's the best! That baka is nothing." she turned to the fight and screamed in shock as Naruto managed to land a hit. It wasn't solid, but it was a start.

Sasuke was grinning. He was having fun. He would have to invite Naruto once so that Itachi could train them both. He didn't know what had happened to Naruto to make him really good but he wasn't complaining. Unlike Neji, who was always stuck up and on his own, Naruto would make an excellent partner.

Naruto was swiping Sasuke's punches out of the air one after the other. Seeing in slow motion wasn't very hard. He could time everything perfectly. Since they were getting nowhere, he took a step back and sure enough, Sasuke followed. But because the Uchiha's footwork hadn't been very well coordinated, there was an opening that left his side open, which Naruto hooked. If he had been listening he would have heard Sakura scream.

Sasuke realized his mistake a little too late and received a powerful hook in his rib. But he also didn't pass up the opportunity to jab Naruto's chest. It wasn't enough to compensate for the damage Naruto had caused but it was a start. Both fighters took a step back to eye the other. This time it was Naruto's turn to go 8n the offensive.

The blond boy began viciously pummeling Sasuke's forearms, which were always ending up in the way. After another few minutes of getting nowhere, Naruto suddenly aimed a kick as Sasuke's head, pivoting on his other foot. Sasuke ducked. The foot Naruto had been kicking with touched the ground but Naruto continued swinging and brought his other foot down low. Sasuke immediately jumped over the foot. Suspended in the air, he was very vulnerable. When Naruto continued the swin with another high kick, it connected powerfully with Sasuke's ribcage.

Sasuke held his ribs, he hadn't seen that one coming. He then remembered something he hsd done to his older brother once before. He broke into a run then leapt toward Naruto in a long jump. Sasuke then curled up into a little ball and landed just in front of Naruto.

Naruto was looking at Sasuke, he had just made his head vulnerable for a kick. 'Oh well.' he thought. He aimed to kick Sasuke's head on his way down.

Sasuke watched as Naruto's foot pulled back for a kick, yes, that would make this easier. The second he landed he uncurled rapidly, like a compressed spring and he saw the shock on Naruto's face. The blonde boy clearly knew what was going to happen but he was powerless to stop it. The Uchiha used the speed gained from launching himself to spear Naruto's solar plexus with his shoulder.

Both boy's met the ground and both jumped to their feet in an instant, equally winded. But they didn't care about that. Both their right fists were already flying and both connected powerfully on the other person's jaw. Both boy's fell to the ground and stared at each other for a few minutes then laughed. Sasuke stood up first and offered his hand to Naruto who took it. "Iruka-sensei, its a draw!" They said in unison before laughing again and heading off toward Shino and Kiba.

Sakura was growling. "The baka, he took away Sasuke's win!"

Hinata looked to Sakura. "Both of them did really well. The match lasted almost five minutes. That's the longest time here."

"I don't care! The baka wasn't supposed to win! And you! How can you not like Sasuke? He's the best!" Sakura yelled in Hinata's face. Hinata could feel her blood boiling.

"Haruno Sakura and Hyuga Hinata, next match." Mizuki called.

"Sasuke! Watch me! I'm the one for you, look how strong I am!" She screeched before stomping to the circle.

Hinata shook her head, "Banshee." before walking towards the circle as well.

Shino had heard Hinata and began laughing. The other two immediately understood. Sasuke on the other hand was shaking his head. "Maybe I should start wearing a face mask." he suggested to others.

All the noise then died down as they watched the two girls in about to fight.

"Here is another example of the Gentle Fist." Iruka called out, simply to have something to say.

Needless to say everyone else could now hear the conversation both girls were having.

"You must be incredibly stupid not to like someone like Sasuke."

"I don't care about Sasuke, I have nothing against him. And don't you notice he never even talks to you?" Hinata shot back.

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" Everyone collectively sweatdropped.

"Forehead girl baka! She was talking about you!" Ino broke the silence.

"Shut it Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled back. "Naruto is a baka. Loud, stupid and silly. It was only because Sasuke was going easy on him that there was a draw."

Hinata activated her Byakugan. "Don't insult Naruto-Kun." she stated calmly. If her blood had been boiling before, now it was far far worse. "Insult me, I do not care, but if you insult Naruto-kun you will pay."

Sakura gave a cold hearted laugh. "Now you know how it feels huh."

Mizuki was clearly amused by this turn of events. "Begin."

With a deafening battlecry, Sakura rushed towards Hinata with her fist raised. "Take this, Cha!" Hinata swatted the hand aside and delivered a powerful slap to Sakura's face. Naruto winced. Sakura shook her head then charged again with the same move. Hinata caught the right fist in her left hand and palmed Sakura's face, making the pink haired girl's nose bleed. Hinata then grabbed a little of the long pink hair to hold Sakura in place as she gave two more powerful slaps. Then she threw the other girl on the ground. Sakura stood up screaming and leapt towards Hinata who calmly stepped to the side and raised her knee. Sakura didn't see it coming. The upraised knee collided with her solar plexus full force and she dropped to the ground, out of air. Sakura stood up one last time.

"Don't talk about Naruto-kun like that again." Hinata walked up towards Sakura and punched her. The screaming girl collapsed. Everyone stared on in shock. The shy and timid Hinata had all but disappeared. Up until a minute ago. She held the knuckles that had punched Sakura in pain.

Naruto was immediately by her side. "Does it hurt?" he asked concerned. Hinata was blushing again. "H-h-hai." Naruto blew on it before taking his froggy hat out of his backpack and wrapping it around her hand. "That should do it." And he led her back to the line.

Everyone's eyes were still wide, including Shikamaru's. "Sensei," Choji began, "that didn't look gentle." Mizuki had already gone to collect Sakura.

"No, Choji, that style is known to man as the Angry Woman." Iruka answered. Choji could only nod. "Remind me not to make her angry."

Sasuke sighed, "Naruto's really lucky to have a girl like her." Kiba leaned in and explained. Sasuke's eyes widened. "He's that clueless!" he whispered back. He looked toward the approaching kids. "Dobe, do you know?"

"Eh? Do I know what?"

Sasuke looked at what the physical contact was doing to the shy girl. "Hinata, if you don't tell him I will." Sasuke smirked while Kiba and Shino already burst out laughing. Hinata looked to Sasuke then to her other two friends in shock.

"Hinata-chan, what's going on? Hinata-chan?" Naruto looked to the poor girl for answers. Hinata took one look into those cerulean eyes and fainted. Naruto managed to catch her before she fell. "Oh come on guys! Everytime you say I'll tell him, she faints. Who are you talking about anyway?"

Sasuke stared at him in shock as he carried Hinata over to a tree. "He's dumber than I thought..."

A few fights later Hinata had already woken up and everyone was preparing to head home. Iruka chose this time to approach Naruto. "Naruto, what happened to you? You were studing in the morning, and now you've displayed amazing skill." Naruto simply looked over to Hinata. "It's her fault." Iruka laughed. So the kid had inspiration now. Well done Hinata.

"Neh Iruka-sensei. Why does Hinata keep blushing and fainting around me? What am I doing wrong?" Iruka stared at the blonde boy incredulously.

"You'll have to find that out yourself, Kami help you."

Hiashi was following Naruto and Hinata from a safe distance, the two were walking home together. Hiashi was worried someone would try to attack Naruto. Just in case, he would be there.

Naruto was busy explaining to Hinata about his eyes and how they turned orange whenever he focused, such as the kunai and during the taijutsu match. Hinata asked him to activate it and then look at her so she could see his eyes.

"There's an orange line around the blue of your eyes." She noticed easily. She tried to remain calm even as those eyes focused on her.

Naruto on the other hand watched Hinata's face in slow motion. He heard her and understood what she was saying, but it seemed distant. As if his ears recorded sound and his brain registered it while he was unaware. When he deactivated it, the noise seemed to crash back down on him.

"Maybe it's a kind of doujutsu." Hinata suggested, "Either a bloodline trait from your parents or maybe something from the cube."

Naruto thought about this, "I'll try and ask Kurama and Prime about this later." The two children decided it would be better if they referred to the Kyubi as Kurama since nobody really knew the kyubi's name.

Hinata was proud of herself. She wasn't stuttering at the moment, even if she did feel light headed. "Hey Hinata-chan, that was really cool what you did to Sakura. Why did you get so angry by the way?" Naruto stopped when he realized that Hinata was no longer walking next to him. "Hinata-chan?" Naruto followed the shy girl's gaze and found the source of her distraction. Cinnamon rolls. "Hinata-chan, would you like some?" Naruto asked when he saw the dreamy look on her face. She looked even cuter and younger than she was. Furthermore, he knew that face, he had worn it countless times whenever he wanted ramen. The shy girl nodded then looked at her feet, twiddling her fingers.

"But you don't have any pocket money do you?" Naruto continued. Easily noticing the fact. On matters such as these Naruto could be very observant. On other matters, such as Hinata's feelings, he had no such skill.

Hinata shook her head.

"Ok, stay here, I'm gonna get you some."

Hinata's head shot up. "N-no n-need Naruto-kun." She stammered. 'He wants to buy me something!' Rang in her head.

"No problem, I have my own money and it will make you happy you know!" Naruto flashed her a grin before running to the shop. 'He wants me to be happy!' Hinata stared after Naruto.

Naruto meanwhile wasn't bothered by the stares people were giving him. At least the shopkeeper didn't seem to mind. He bought two buns. 'I hope she enjoys these.' he smiled at the thought. But when he turned around to head back, he felt a surge of anger. Those two boys standing in front of Hinata looked like they were making her cry. He began stomping towards them. Then one of them pushed her. That was it, this guy was going to pay.

Hinata watched Naruto go into the store. She hated the way most of the villagers looked at him, but there was nothing she could do. "Oh my my, what do we have here?" A boy sneered. "If it isn't the girl that hangs out with the loser." Another one added. Hinata looked at them in fright. This wasn't good.

They were much taller than her and bigger too. The two boys had ugly smirks on their faces. "Hahaha, the only reason anyone would hang out with him was if they were brats as well."

"Oh wait, she is one isn't she? Look at those white eyes. She's the weak Hyuga."

Hinata felt tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to do. "Yeah look how weak she is, she won't even do anything." The other one pushed her hard on the shoulder.

Hiashi had been watching, silently raging. He was going to interfere when one of the boys pushed her, but in a flash of orange, the guy was on the ground. A very angry looking Naruto standing over him. He sat back again and relaxed. Maybe things weren't that bad after all.

The second the guy had pushed Hinata, Naruto's vision was filled with orange. All sound drowned out as he focused on the guilty boy. It seemed like an eternity before he arrived but he was satisfied when his fist connected and the guy dropped. The partner was already swinging but to Naruto, it seemed foolish to even try. He ducked under the sloppy punch and kicked the guy with all his might in the chest. Both older boys looked toward him in fear before turning and running.

Naruto was just about to give chase when he felt a small hand on his arm. "It's ok Naruto-kun, I'm fine. Thank you." Hearing Hinata's voice calmed Naruto down considerably and he deacrivated his eyes. He smiled at her and handed her the cinnamon buns and Hinata squealed in delight. She grabbed one out of the bag and Naruto could have sworn she was going to gulp it down. Then she began nibbling it like a little rabbit. Despite himself Naruto laughed and the two continued their journey home.

Hiashi continued to smile and followed them. He passed a dango store and temporarily went inside to greet Asuma, Gai and Kurenai. He quickly recapped the quick story to them and they laughed alongside him. "Ahhh young love, the flames of youth have yet to appear!" Gai commented before giving Hiashi a thumbs up. Kurenai almost choked on her dango. "Gai! You're ruining the moment!"

They all then turned to the pair of students walking down the street then gasped in shock. There was a man fast approaching them and he had what looked to be a katana. A very sharp katana. They could feel the killer intent the man was giving off and it was not very hard to see who it was aimed at. A blonde boy clad in orange. The man was already directly behind Naruto and already had the sword set to swing sideways. "Naruto!" the four adults yelled in horror. Both Naruto and Hinata were in range of the swing and Hiashi could only watch the scene unfold. Since the man was already swinging there would be no time to dodge. His oldest daughter and Naruto couldn't end like this!

Naruto heard the warning shout and turned rapidly, activating his orange eyes. The man behind him was swinging a very sharp blade horizontally. Naruto was quickly running through his options as he slowly watched the deadly Katana approach. His instinct told him Hinata was rooted to the spot behind him in fear and shock. Not good. He was in no position to push her out of the way while he had his back tuned to her. If he dodged then the sword would slice through Hinata. No. There was no way he would let that happen. Dodging was out of the question. So he did the only thing he could. He raised his forearms into an 'X' to intercept the blade. At least Hinata wouldn't get hurt.

Kurenai realized what Naruto was about to do, and she screamed...

* * *

 **And there's a wrap! Hope you guys enjoyed the long chapter. Since this is an AU we have decided to give things a little spin. You will see soon.**

 **You guys really need to thank Yatsushiro Ryko, as he really went to town on this one. I think the only time I could ever make a chapter as large as this is when it's a major event.**

 **So I hope that none of you are bothered by the changes we made to canon, plus the OOC of some characters.**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	3. Chapter 3: A Day of Surprises

Chapter 3: A Day of Surprises

* * *

 **We're baaaaack! And with another chapter to boot! this time, we're going to pick up on that cruel cliffhanger we left for you guys!**

 **Guys don't forget to leave a review! The more happy reviews and favs and follows make Yatsushiro write faster!**

 **Thank you for all those who reviewed and liked!**

 **Rebmul: I guess you were right. Something Cybertronian will happen. And don't worry, you'll see your fair share of Transformers here.**

 **coexistshinnizle: Technically, I didn't leave the cliffhanger. But I did go along with it, so I guess you could say that I'm an accomplice.**

* * *

(Konoha-Streets)

Kurenai realized what Naruto was about to do, and she screamed.

Asuma's cigarette dropped to the ground.

Hiashi was trying to get out of the store as fast as he could.

Gai had opened the first three gates and was rushing toward the children. But he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

The sword swung closer and closer as Naruto held his stance.

 **Clang!**

The sound of the sword striking metal echoed across the street. Everyone stared in shock. At first the bewildered Jonin thought someone had intercepted the strike. But upon closer inspection, the sword had hit Naruto's exposed forearms. There wasn't a scratch.

The man with the sword stared at the boy in fear, his sword had hit the demon boy's skin but it was like he had hit metal. He struck three more times with the same loud noise as if it was a swordfight.

Naruto was as shocked as the rest but with his orange eyes he was picking up every little detail. Such as the fact that the sword could not injure him. He walked on forward slowly while the man's swings became more desperate. On the fourth swing Naruto caught the blade in his hand and tugged it away from the man.

The three Jonin and Hiashi just kept looking on, unable to comprehend what was happening before Naruto grabbed the sword out of the man's hand and held it as his own. Then slight fear struck as they were hit with a wave of killing intent. It wasn't as strong as others, but it was still there. The attacker, although civillian, must have felt it too as he cringed visibly. Then they heard Naruto's voice. "If you ever, try anything against me or Hinata-chan again, I'll kill you!"

The man took this as a warning and ran. After the man left Hinata was put out of her shock and she touched Naruto and Hiashi was put out of his stupor as he realized, along with his other companions, that the wave of killing intent abruptly stopped at Hinata's touch. Then Hinata broke down crying and Naruto embraced her protectively.

Maito Gai shut down his inner gates and followed Hiashi to the children. Hiashi was filled with relief that they were both alright. And also, somewhere in the back of his mind, imagining what Kushina would do to him if she met her child in the afterlife early. Kurenai and Asuma were following close behind.

"Gai, follow that man, this should be reported to the Hokage." Hiashi ordered.

"Hai, it will be done." Gai replied, for once without his usual cheerful manner. This was serious business. He would ask Kurenai and Asuma what happened later on. And with that Konoha's green beast dashed after the fleeing civilian.

"Kurenai, Asuma, come with me." They both nodded, the trio continued towards the children where Naruto was comforting a crying Hinata. When Naruto saw Hiashi, he bowed slightly. "I'm sorry, Hiashi-sama, I have put your daughter in harm's way."

If it had been any other circumstance, Hiashi would have applauded the boy. But this wasn't just anything. Their lives had been put in grave danger and Naruto had displayed a skill still unknown to them. "It wasn't your fault Naruto. Now follow me, we shall speak in my office." Naruto nodded solemnly and followed Hiashi with Kurenai and Asuma behind them, discouraging any more would be attackers.

"It's ok, Hinata-chan." Naruto was busy rubbing her back comfortably while Hinata was clinging to him sobbing. "B-but, he w-was about to h-hurt Na-naruto-kun because of m-me!"

Naruto shushed her. "But I didn't get hurt now, did I. Anyways, better me than you anyday you know."

"B-but..." Naruto placed a finger on her lips. "Remember what I said this morning Hinata-chan? Nobody should hurt you, I promised I wouldn't let them, so calm down now ok?" Hinata looked into his confident blue eyes and grin before whimpering, still refusing to let go of Naruto.

Behind them, Kurenai nudged Asuma as they both looked at the children. "These two could get interesting." Kurenai said as she smiled.

* * *

(Hyuga Compound)

Hiashi took a glance at the four individuals who stood horizontally across his desk. He was glad to see that Hinata had gotten over her shock and was standing attentively next to Naruto. He gestured for Kurenai and Asuma to stand to the side of the room so that he could talk face to face with Naruto and his daughter.

"Naruto, first of all I would like to thank you for getting my daughter out of danger." Hiashi started.

"Yatta! No problem Hiashi-sama. I won't let anyone hurt Hinata-chan!" Naruto was grinning stupidly at Hiashi as if nothing had happened. Even though Hiashi was relieved that the boy seemed happy considering the incident, he realized that Naruto must have been used to this kind of treatment. He felt a pang of guilt, if only he had noticed sooner. He looked at his eldest daughter and noticed a boost in her mood when she noticed Naruto's amusing antics.

"Thank you Naruto," Hiashi continued, keeping his face stern. "But another matter. What happened out there Naruto. You displayed fast reflexes and you didn't seem to be affected by the sword."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in thought. "Eto, it might have something to do with the orange eyes." he mumbled.

"Huh, Naruto? What orange eyes?" Hiashi looked at him questioningly. All he had understood from the incoherent mumbling had been 'orange eyes'.

Naruto grinned at him sheepishly. "It's kinda hard to explain Hiashi-sama."

He stopped when Hinata touched his arm. "Ano, Naruto-kun, I can explain if you want." Hinata offered, blushing slightly. She felt a little more light headed when Naruto's gaze ended up on her.

"Ok Hinata-chan! Hiashi-sama, Hinata knows what I'm talking about better than I do you know! She'll explain." Naruto flashed Hinata one of his foxy grins.

Hiashi was starting to realize something else about the orange clad child. Even though he was always grinning, there seemed to be a specific grin he had for every situation. He then looked to his daughter who explained Naruto's new predicament as accurately as she could.

Hinata left out the fact that Naruto had met with the kyubi and the cube and simply stated that the cube had reacted with Naruto. Hiashi was slightly disappointed when she had no explanation for how he blocked the sword. He then turned to Naruto afterwards. "When did this start?"

"Just today Hiashi-sama." Naruto replied, seemingly carefree.

"So everything slows down when you focus?" Hiashi questioned. He wanted to try something. Naruto nodded. "Can you focus on me and try to activate it? Byakugan!"

Naruto stared at the clan head as if he was in a staring competition. When he realized that it wasn't working, he imagined Hiashi as if he was the man with the sword. The orange that filled his vision informed him that the technique had taken place.

Hiashi was surprised. Upon Naruto's activation, he witnessed the new black chakra rush towards the blonde boy's eyes. This set him wondering what had really happened before they found Naruto the day before. What was this black chakra? Hiruzen would need to know about these developments soon. Then the Hyuga clan head noticed something else. On Naruto's shoulders, both new insignias were glowing bright. They had only activated when Naruto used his technique.

"Naruto remove your jacket and your shirt." Hiashi commanded. He wasn't very surprised when the blonde retaliated. Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Hiashi.

"Hiashi-sama why?! What has got to do with my eyes?" Naruto yelled back. If he wasn't the clan head, Hiashi would have ungraciously slammmed his head upon the table. Although the blonde was improving, he would lash out with no such respect under certain circumstances. "I just want the others present to see something."

"Ehhh! Scary man no! That's sick!" Naruto screamed back. Asuma chuckled and Kurenai smirked. Hinata on the other hand was blushing furiously and had found the floor suddenly very interesting while Hiashi was silently cursing himself for his incorrect choice of words. Naruto's eyes were no longer tinted with orange as he yelled at Hinata's father.

"Naruto, take it off. It has something to do with your new ability." Hiashi said this with as much authority as he could muster. At least it had a little effect on the raging blonde.

"Fine, whatever you wish Hiashi-sama." Naruto grumbled as he took off both his jacket and shirt, clearly not pleased.

"Now activate your eyes again."

Naruto sighed and went back into his slow motion world. While in it he barely heard a shocked gasp from Kurenai. Even though he felt like he couldn't hear in his state, the sounds his ears gathered were still picked up and understood, even though to Naruto, his ears weren't functioning. He looked around in slow motion wondering what had happened. Then all of a sudden his brain registered someone saying 'shoulder' so he decided to look.

Kurenai gasped, when Naruto's technique took place, the new symbols on his shoulders were glowing. No light was being emitted, but both insignias were glowing clearly. The one on his right burned a blood red and the one on his left gave off a blue hue. "Look at his shoulder's!"

Hinata had her eyes averted, she didn't trust herself enough not to faint if she saw Naruto without his shirt. But when she heard Kurenai's surprised gasp she grew curious. Did Naruto look that good? She mentally slapped herself. Kurenai was a grown woman. When she heard the adult say something about Naruto's shoulders, the shy girl risked a quick peek. After she caught sight of the blue glow however, it held her attention.

 _'Those marks he told me about from yesterday, but he didn't tell me that they glowed!'_ She thought, as she stared intently at them while Naruto came back to his... regular senses. The glowing stopped the moment he did so.

"Hiashi-sama? Why were they glowing?" Naruto seemed sober now. Confused to say the least.

"It appears that when you start using your eyes, those signs signal that you are using that power. Now what about your sword blocking ability?"

Naruto held up his arms and began poking them, watching the skin indent as he applied pressure. "I don't know. I just sort of, reacted to the situation."

"Maybe it's because Naruto-kun and I were in danger?" Hinata suggested. She quickly looked away when Naruto caught her looking and Kurenai had to stiffle a laugh since Hiashi was deep in thought.

"So it activates when you are in danger hmm?" Hiashi was stroking his chin in thought, his eyes gazing far away. When he spoke, everyone looked at him. Hiashi activated his Byakugan again.

"Huh, Hiashi-sama?" Naruto had removed his attention from Hinata's blue black hair and moved on to her father.

As if on cue, the clan head suddenly grabbed a hidden kunai hidden underneath his desk and through it at Naruto with full force, straight for his stomach. To any spectator all they would see was a slight blur of the kunai as it disturbed the air. That was the speed that Hiashi had thrown it. Through his byakugan he watched the changes occur in Naruto's body.

Naruto was shocked to say the least. The moment he had seen Hiashi's hand go under the desk, his brain had begun screaming 'DANGER!' His instincts then took action as his eye activated and he watched Hiashi's arm fling the kunai. With all the time in the world, he saw where it was going and carefullt considered his options. At that speed again dodging was out of the question. What an unlucky day. Again, he decided to move his arm into harm's way.

Only after the kunai rebounded off Naruto's solid arm did Hinata realize what had happened. "Tou-san!" she glared angrily at her father. She knew why he had done it but if it didn't work, what would have happened to Naruto?

Kurenai was also going along very similar thoughts. "Hiashi!" She yelled, her red eyes adding to the intensity of the glare. Asuma however was marvelling at the clan head's thinking and decided to just watch events unfold.

Hiashi didn't mind the two angry females that were stabbing him with merely their eyes, he was more concerned with what he had just seen through the byakugan. Right before he had thrown the kunai, the black chakra had surged to Naruto's eyes. During the kunai's brief flight, he noticed the black chakra rushing to the blonde boy's skin. The kunai had struck precisely where the new chakra was gathered before rebounding. The chakra then spread along the entire length of Naruto's arm and didn't seem to be leaving.

The clan head's thoughts, though not bothered before, were now abruptly interrupted by the accusing yells of the young jinchuriki. "Oi teme! What was that for? Trying to get Konoha's next Hokage killed!" Naruto was raging at the clan head and it didn't escape the said man's attention that Naruto was no longer addressing him as Hiashi-sama.

"Naruto calm down, look at your arm now. It seems hard." Hiashi said calmly. Experience showed that if he answered Naruto with anger and force, it would just rebound back to him and that could quite possibly take hours.

"Eh?" The confused boy prodded his arm and found it extremely strong. Hiashi watched as the new chakra slowly receded back into the chakra coils. "Hiashi-sama, it's getting soft again!" Naruto whined.

"Of course Naruto, you are no longer in any sort of danger."

"Eto, so if I want to see it then I need someone to throw kunai at me?" Asuma's cigarette fell out of his mouth as he gawked at the stupidity that just came out of the boys mouth.

Hiashi ignored the stupid comment as he watched the boy. "Naruto, now tense your arms, as if you are gripping something very tightly." Hiashi was a little surprised to see that Naruto complied without complaint. He observed the black chakra behave similarly to before.

"Ok Hiashi-sama, look it's hard again!" A very excited Naruto exclaimed.

"Good, now try keeping it like that."

While no change was visible to Naruto's outside features, Hiashi had to admit that the skin now held properties of a very durable metal. Naruto was now also doing a great job of maintaining the new armour. Hiashi watched curiously as it began to slowly spread around Naruto's body before he realized what Naruto was doing. Naruto was spreading the black chakra to cover his entire body. And it was working.

Grinning like a sly fox, Naruto punched his head and a loud metallic sound echoed around the room. "Yatta! This is so cool! I'm awesome you know!" then just as quickly as his new armour had come, it disappeared back into his chakra network. Apparently the boy was learning how to control it rather well and rather quickly.

Then Naruto heard a voice in his head. **"Brat, go to your room now. Prime wants to speak with you."**

Naruto groaned. "Do I have to?" it took a minute before he realized that he had said it out loud.

 **"Baka! You can just think what you want to say! You want them to put us in the crazy department!?"**

' _Gome. Gome gome,'_ Naruto thought sarcastically. _'You could've at least warned me earlier!'_

"What do you have to do Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked quizically.

Hiashi was also wondering what the boy was on about, but he didn't bother. What interested him more was that the flame of orange chakra in Naruto's stomach seemingly grew brighter.

"Ha, aha! I have something to do. Hiashi-sama, can I go now?" Naruto's face had gone from utterly clueless to normal Naruto in an instant. Hinata noticed the change but decided not to push it. She would ask him when they were alone later on.

"And what may you need to do young man?" Kurenai had an eybrow raised, her red eyes digging holes in Naruto's defense.

"Say you have to study."

"Kurenai-san, I have to go study." Naruto had finally regained his calm attitude since the kunai.

Kurenai's jaw however, dropped. She didn't know whether to marvel at the respect or at the fact that the blonde boy was going to study. Luckily for Naruto, Hiashi wasn't watching him for a lie or he would've been a deer in the headlights.

 **"I have a feeling what we're going to do is going to take quite a while. No dinner for you."**

 _'Oh come on! I'm starving you know!'_ Naruto threw as much anger as he could into the thought.

But he still did what he was told. "Oh yeah, Hiashi-sama, I won't be taking dinner tonight. Please don't disturb me in my room. Ja ne!" And with that Naruto bolted out of the room.

Hiashi shook his head. "Looks like Naruto has gotten a little overexcited." He commented lightheartedly. "Asuma, Kurenai come with me. In addition to Gai, you are both witnesses. Hinata, go to your mother and ask for dinner to be made only for three."

Hinata nodded. "Tou-san, where will you be?"

"I will meet with the hokage Hinata. Alright, you are dismissed."

Hiashi rose from his chair just as Hinata left the room. "I wonder how Hiruzen will react." he said to no one on particular. "Let's go."

* * *

(Naruto's Room)

A few minutes later, Naruto ended up in his room and locked the door. He then sat cross legged on the floor and closed his eyes. "You'd better have an explanation about this Kurama." Naruto angrily shook his fist at the large fox.

 **"I don't owe you an explanation. Prime wanted to speak with you so I just called you, brat."** The Kyubi replied, casting its eyes towards the robot.

Naruto scratched his head. "You said you don't owe me an explanation but you just gave me one." Naruto said cheekily, grinning at the Kyubi. The bijuu snarled.

 **"Just get on with it!"** Kurama decided to treat those as parting words and sulked to his corner of the large cage, where he dropped down and decided to watch everything with a large, blood red eye.

"I apologize for any inconvenience, Naruto." Optimus took it as his turn. The blonde boy crossed his arms and pouted. "But I have a better exlanation for your new abilities." the large robot continued.

Naruto's eyebrows perked up at this and he decided to give the machine his full attention. "I'm listening."

"The cube grants power to its wielder. For some reason, its effects are being unleashed much faster in you than expected. Such as the abilty you have in your eyes and your new form of armour."

"It's awesome you know! It can block swords and kunai! What else can I get?" Naruto asked eagerly, barely able to contain hos excitement.

"I am unsure, to tell the truth. But I have noticed one thing." Optimus signalled to the cube. "When you decided to save your friend a while ago, you freed another robot from the cube. This here is Bumblebee."

Another robot slowly walked out from behind Optimus. It was a much smaller robot that reached little less than half of Prime's height and build. Even with its reduced height however, it still towered over Naruto. But whereas Optimus had an air of authority and leadership around himself, this smaller robot brought around the same mischievousness that Naruto did. It's most striking feature, was that it was almost completely covered in bright yellow. It eagerly waved its hand at Naruto. It seemed a lot like a child itself.

"Naruto, you can harden your entire body now into armour, right?" Optimus continued.

"Sure sure, but what has it got to do with that awesome guy?" Naruto was far too interested in Bumblebee to grasp what Optimus was saying. The two newly met acquaintances seemed to be having fun making faces through the bars. Optimus sighed and dragged Bumblebee back to his side.

"Ok, Naruto, what if I tell you you could probably turn into your new friend here?" Optimus asked, desperate to regain the young jinchuriki's attention. It worked better than expected.

"Eehhhh! Awesome! That's gonna be really cool! Teach me now, I'm ready!" Naruto's attention was now solely focused on the larger of the two robots.

"Remember how you hardened your body into armour? I want you to do the same thing but try focusing and transforming yourself into his shape."

"Hai." Naruto opened his eyes and the sewer disappeared. He was still in his room. "Ok, now I have to try this." Naruto began focusing the energy he felt in his body and he got the desired result, his body turned to steel. He was disappointed in the next step however, when he tried converting his hardened body to look like the yellow robot.

After five fruitless minutes, a frustrated Naruto vwntured back into his mindscape. "Optimus it isn't working!" he whined.

 **"Stop complaining and get back to trying brat!"** the Kyubi snarled. **"You're annoying me!"**

Naruto turned and stuck his tongue out. "Shut up fuzzball."

Kurama's left eye twitched, his previous container was very fond of calling him just that.

Naruto's attention went back to Optimus who was ready to explain. "Naruto, you need to have a very clear picture of what you are trying to copy. Here, try holding Bumblebee's hand while you try and morph outside."

Naruto complied. He opened his eyes in the outside world and forced his arm. He was surprised to see it yield results. His entire arm had now converted into solid, visible steel. And it was painted yellow. Grinning victoriously, Naruto quickly returned to his mindscape to show off his achievement.

"Hmm, that worked. But can you try it with your whole body?" Optimus complimented the boy. He noticed that the blonde was determined to learn, which was a good thing.

"Of course, I can do it you know! I'm awesome! I'm so becoming Hokage!"

If Optimus had a face, he would have frowned. He had to agree with Kurama in some things.

Naruto was now more determined than ever. He forced the power to the rest of his body and attempted to morph. For some reason, the only metal parts were from the already transformed arm. In other words, it didn't work. Once again Naruto was starting to get frustrated. After a while he decided to return to Optimus. The robot seemed to have a lot of answers.

"Maybe, you need to chant it," The larger robot answered. "Like the Hyuga and their Byakugan."

Naruto thought about it. "My eyes only work when I'm in danger. What if I name it something so that it comes on whenever I want?"

 **"By all means brat, try it,"** The Kyubi commented sarcastically.

Naruto blocked the bijuu out and started focusing the pressure behind his eyes. He could feel the energy, but his eyes wern't converting. "Orange Eyes!" Naruto yelled. When nothing happened he heard Kurama roaring with laughter in his head.

 **"What was that brat?"**

"Shut up! Byakugan!" Naruto shouted more forcefully.

The bijuu inside him was going to lose its head laughing. **"Baka! Names have power, but only if used right! Orange eyes!?"** Kurama was clearly making fun of the boy who in turn was doing his best to ignore the giant fox.

Naruto pulsed the energy to his eyes one last time. "Tsuihogan!" The energy took form and the young jinchuriki grinned as his vision clouded with the crystal clear orange. When he willed it to, the energy lost focus and his eyes reverted back to normal. After a few more tests, Naruto walked right up to the now silent Kyubi, grinning wildly.

 **"Banishing Eye?"** Kurama asked, curiously. **"Why that name?"**

Naruto shrugged. "It just felt right." Kurama seemed satisfied

Optimus nodded. "The boy has now discovered the power of names. Try calling out 'Bumblebee' now, while you are in armoured state." He suggested. By now Naruto was getting the hang of listening, it always seemed to do him some good.

"Bumblebee!" Naruto yelled out. There was a large puff of smoke, and where there was once Naruto, there was now a yellow robot. The robot was the spitting image of bumblebee but there was no change in height. The robot was only as tall as the boy was. Not that Naruto was disappointed. "Yatta!" he yelled. Immediately, he noticed that his voice sounded weird. Like a high pitched broken radio. There was also the fact that he felt like dancing with joy.

Inside his mindscape, Prime began explaining. "It seems you have morphed into exactly the same being as Bumblebee. That feeling you have to dance must come from Bumblebee's personality, it seems you even carry that with you."

Naruto was listening to the voice in his head while slowly testing his new body. He could still move it fast. But with each step he took, he heard the floor underneath groan underneath the strain. He liked it. "Tsuihogan!" The boy was even more pleased to discover that both abilities could function simultaneously.

"Naruto, try handing control of your body to bumblebee. Just relax and don't move."

Inside his mindscape, Naruto sat cross legged in the water as he watched Bumblebee take control of his body. Kurama was impressed, but kept his amazement hidden. After a few minutes, Naruto took back control of his body laughing. Then he heard a voice outside the room.

"Nato nii-san!" called out Hanabi. "We brought you some food!"

Naruto panicked, _'Whoa, she can't see me like this! Their gonna think I'm an intruder!'_

"Hinata, Hanabi knock did he open the door yet?" A third voice called out. It was Hitomi.

Inside the room, Naruto was desperately doing his best to transform back. _'Optimus! Help me! Kai!'_ Optimus was busy thinking. "Try calling out your name."

"Naruto!" a high pitched whirring voice called out. The three women outside exchanged a look. "Naruto-kun? Are you all right in there?" Hinata asked nervously. They then heard heavy footsteps.

 _'Iksa! It didn't work.'_ Naruto whined in his head. He leaned against the wall opposite the door, and it caved in.

When they heard the crash, Hitomi nodded to Hinata who air palmed the locked door open. They did so just in time to see a lone figure running across the courtyard in the dark, barely visible in the moonlight. It then leapt over the compound walls. "Follow Naruto, Hinata. He might be up to something. Come Hanabi, let us return the food." Hitomi instructed her daughters. Hinata nodded and took off after the fleeing object, her Byakugan active.

Naruto was shocked. He had simply leaned on the wall and it had crumbled. He heard the door behind him burst open and broke into a run. _'If they think I'm an intruder they might kill me!'_ Naruto thought, he was frightened. He realized that despite his weight, he was moving faster than he had normally and easily leapt over the compound walls. _'Wow, this new body is cool!' r_ an though his mind. He started sprinting now, straight towards a clearing in the forest he knew.

Hinata was disappointed, after only five seconds, the figure she was chasing had already gone out of her range and she hadn't even been able to get a good look at it. But she could tell one thing. It was leaving a path of destruction behind it. Heavy foot falls and snapped branches and more. Hinata was not a good tracker, but any villager would have been able to follow this trail.

Naruto swore again. At the speed he was going, he kept slamming into branches and tree trunks. The bad part was he didn't feel the impact. But the trees sure did. He had once slammed straight into a tree trunk and the tree had snapped and fell. He had to get out of the transformation soon, it seemed like his new body gave him an increase in speed that he could not properly control and that also came with his newfound strength.

 **"Why don't you use your 'orange eyes'?"** the Kyubi suggested. Naruto felt like he had just been slapped. Big time. "Tsuihogan!" he yelled. The blonde boy was greatly relieved to see that while everything was in slow motion, he had time to make decisions, even at the speed he was travelling at. He also noticed that the footsteps he was leaving were way too obvious. "Hmm, what if I stopped hitting the ground so hard?" He kept the same speed he was going at but started lightening his footfalls. Soon there was hardly any footprints being left in the grass and Naruto smiled before carrying on his way.

Hinata however, frowned. The obvious trail she had been quickly following had become less clear. The one she was tracking seemed to always be heading in one direction or other. Then the destruction to the forest had abruptly stopped. All that had been left to follow were the deep footprints, and now, even those had disappeared. Now the Hyuga heir had no idea where to go.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

Shino and Kiba were walking home from the park with Choji and Shikamaru. The topic of conversation had been favourite foods. Shino had been slowly getting more open with his new friends and was starting to get to know their habits. Shikamaru loved watching the clouds and playing Shogi. Other than that, the Nara was pure lazy. Choji, being an Akamichi, had to eat a lot to sustain the energy for a fight and always jumped at the opportunity for food. Shino had also discovered that calling an Akamichi anything even remotely related to 'fat' was pretty much asking for a death sentence. He had witnessed this first hand in the playground when Kiba wasn't watching his mouth. Choji had insisted that he was only 'big-boned' before enlarging his arm to punch Kiba into a wall. Kiba he found was carefree and rude, which made him fun - if not dangerous- to be with.

Kiba held up his hand and sniffed the air. "Something's wrong." Shino and Choji ceased their conversation to look at him while Shikamaru simply stopped walking. "It's Naruto."

"What's wrong then?" Choji asked before munching on his chips.

"He's moving very fast." Kiba replied, his concentration evident.

"Is there a problem with that?" Shino was worried by the look on Kiba's face. "Naruto can run fast."

Kiba shook his head. "When people sleep, something changes about their smell, only we Inuzuka can smell it. But Naruto smells like he's sleeping, and if he's moving too fast to be himself..."

"Then someone must have gotten him!" Shino quickly interuppted.

Kiba nodded. "Whoever it is must be fast and good. I can't smell anyone other than Naruto."

Shikamaru now opened his eyes. "Nobody will really care enough about Naruto to help him, so it's up to us."

Choji put away his chips, a serious expression on his face. "Then let's go. As Naruto's friends we have to try and save him. Kiba, lead the way."

Kiba nodded and broke into a run closely followed by Shino and Choji. Shikamaru sighed before running after them. "Troublesome."

* * *

(Back in the field)

Naruto was relieved when he finally got to the small clearing he always came to and stood in the middle of it. Nobody would be here to bother him. Or so he thought. The next moment, four figures appeared in front of him looking ready for a fight. He smiled when he realized that it was four of his friends. "Where's Naruto? What have you done with him?!" Kiba yelled. Naruto looked at him as if he was an alien before tilting his head to ask the question. "What?"

"He's not answering, Kiba. Why? Because he want's to keep Naruto." Shino said in a monotone which creeped out Naruto in a way.

Choji cracked his knuckles. "If he wants a fight then he'll get one. We're gonna get Naruto back. Nobody takes our friend!"

Shikamaru was just glaring at him. If in any other circumstances Naruto would have been overjoyed that they would go this far for him. Only now, they were mistaking him for an enemy. And the moonlight was making them even scarier. "Guys! It's me Naruto!" the new robot body pleaded. Kiba scoffed. "Last I looked, Naruto was a BOY our age who was wearing ORANGE!"

And with that Kiba threw a kunai deadly straight at Naruto. For once the kunai was heading straight for its intended target. Naruto noticed a kind of mettalic visor automatically slide down to cover his face, leaving only his eyes open. "Tsuihogan!" He yelled. This time the blue lights of Bumblebee turned a bright orange. Naruto then easily sidestepped the kunai. He then noticed the bugs that were attached onto his arm and carefully brushed them off.

"I can't get any chakra from him!" Shino warned. "My bugs are of no use." The Aburame then reached into his pouch and threw three shiriken dead straight at Naruto who raised his arm to block them. After they rebounded off, Naruto realized he couldn't move.

"Shadow possession technique complete!" Shikamaru chanted, crouching on the ground. Naruto noticed a thin shadow connecting his to Shikamaru's. Naruto put as much force as he could and realized that he could hreak free easily with his newfound strength. Shikamaru yelled and collapsed in a sweaty heap after doing his best to maintain the jutsu. Naruto looked at his three friends before realizing too late that Choji was missing. He turned around to meet a very enlarged fist. "Partial expansion jutsu!" the Akamichi yelled before his fist connected. All four attacker's eyes widened when the force of Choji's fist slammed into the yellow robot's chest, and the robot didn't budge. Naruto didn't want to hurt his friends. "Guys stop! I don't want to hurt you!"

"To hell with that!" Kiba roared, charging him. Naruto sighed and, as gently as he could manage, pushed Kiba to his side. Unfortunately, gently for the robot was like getting sucker punched.

When the angry four moved in again Naruto lost his patience. "I said stop 'ttebayo!" he yelled forcefully before punching a large tree full force. The unfortunate tree snapped and fell. Frightened by the power display, the four decided to stand down and glare.

"It's Naruto." Shikamaru said suddenly. The other three looked at him in shock and he continued. "If that was an enemy ninja with that much power, don't you think he would hurt us? And Kiba you said you could smell Naruto on him. I don't see any possible way for him to hide Naruto." he looked towards the robot they had been fighting. "What happened to you, Naruto?" the Nara asked.

Naruto was relieved to say the least that Shikamaru had figured it out. If he hadn't then he might have accidentally hurt his friends. Naruto simply explained that he had a power to change into the robot. But now, he had no way to turn it back to himself. Kiba was still suspicious but kept it to himself.

"Maybe you need to force yourself back inside." Choji suggested, once again having a go at the chips. Naruto attempted this but gave up when nothing seemed to be happening.

"What about shouting your name to transform back, like what you did to activate your eyes and body?" Shino had listened intently to what little Naruto had told them and had come up with his own conclusion.

"Or what about imagining something you like?" Kiba stated, feeling the need to at least contribute.

"Aha, good ideas!" Naruto said happily. "Naruto! Naruto! Naruto!" he yelled. "Iksa, it's not working." He sat in thought again. "Neither is thinking of Ramen." He pouted, now what?

Shikamaru had taken his time. "What if you think of something that relaxes you?"

In his head, Naruto heard Optimus approve. The blonde boy stood up and began imagining things. He saw a bit of violet and purple. Then some blue black hair. He was snapped out of his thoughts as Kiba began howling in laughter while the other three boys looked away. "Teme! Why did you interupt me?" Naruto shook his fist angrily at Kiba. Kiba pointed at him and Naruto was relieved to see that he was back to normal. Then he realized why Kiba was laughing. Due to the transformation, he had no more clothes on. He stood clear to the world in his birthday suit. Then he turned bright red as he heard another very familiar voice call his name and immediately covered his pride.

"Naruto! Is that you?" Hinata called as she stumbled out of the treeline. The sight that greeted her was the completely naked backside of Naruto Uzumaki. "Eeeh! Na-na..." Hinata managed to say before she felt the familiar light headedness that usually accompanied fainting. As she fell, she looked up at the starry night sky and smiled before blacking out as a small trickle of blood came from her nose.

By now Choji and Shino had joined Kiba in his laughter while Shikamaru was shaking his head with a clear smile on his face. Naruto had turned an unhealthy red. "Iksa! Bumblebee!" he summoned his robot counterpart out. Naruto was silently rejoicing at the fact that at least when he was machine, he didn't need clothes. "Go home guys, and please don't tell anyone else."

Kiba snickered evilly. "About your little midnight run? Without any..."

 **Bonk!**

Kiba rubbed the back of his head in pain. "Oi, Shino! What was that for?"

"I believe Naruto asked us to keep a secret. If you find keeping secrets difficult to keep, then maybe I should also find that your secret was hard to keep."

Kiba stared at Shino in shock. "N-no! T-that's blackmail Shino!"

Shino grinned back. "Don't worry Naruto, Kiba won't say anything unless he wants me to tell you about the..."

Kiba was now firmly behind Shino with his hand firmly clamped shut on the Aburame's mouth. "Don't worry Naruto, we won't tell anyone!" Naruto could swear Kiba was sweating in nervousness. Just how bad was it? He nodded in thanks before picking up Hinata and heading back towards the Hyuga compound.

Kiba watched Naruto's back intently and when he was sure that his blonde classmate was out of earshot he let Shino go and hissed. "Shino, you aren't supposed to blackmail your friends! It's one thing friends never do to each other!"

Shino smirked. "Then let us be the first." With that, the bug user went on his way with a smile on his face. Kiba trudged after him. "At least Choji and Shikamaru are out of earshot now."

Naruto had opted to go back in through the main gate. Seeing his friend's reactions a while back meant that he would probably be attacked if he went in any other way. Besides the Uchiha and the Senju, the Hyuga were probably the strongest known clan in Konoha. And Naruto did not fancy the whole clan raining down on him. As luck would have it, Naruto was having a bad day.

"Hey you! Why do you have Hinata-sama!?" A patrolling guard yelled from behind him. This alerted the four main guards who also charged him, they stood cautiously a little distance away from him. Automatically Naruto's visor dropped and all six of the guards took this as an aggressive indicator and charged him. Naruto sighed, he would have to get that part under control. "Tsuihohan!"

After a few minutes of the group trying to touch him, the group slowly withdrew, suddenly wary. The only people that could possibly dance in between their shots with ease was someone with a strong doujutsu such as a sharingan. But they were wary as they had never seen an orange doujutsu before. Let alone the thing in front of them.

Naruto was just as wary, they could try to attack him again at any time. He was still carrying Hinata so he made the smart choice and laid her gently next to the wall of the compound. He then turned to face his aggressors. What the boy wasn't expecting however, was an attack from above.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Hiashi yelled, blasting the intruder with as much force as he could muster. He was surprised when the target didn't budge. Even through his byakugan, he couldn't sense any chakra from the machine and therefore, couldn't see the tenkutsus he was aiming to close. Still, he knew their approximate position.

"Stop. Hiashi-sama!" Naruto commanded in his altered voice, cursing it for being so different. Hiashi paid no heed and Naruto began doing his best to dodge the rapid strikes that the man was throwing him. Even with his Tsuihogan, he was having difficulty. It wasn't long before the clan head landed a hit.

 _'He's fast,'_ Hiashi thought. _'With this skill why isn't he attacking me? He may even be the better fighter!'_ Hiashi saw an opening on his opponent's shoulder and quickly took the opportunity to try and shut down the left arm. He screamed as his hand connected. The chakra that was supposed to have entered the body rebounded and gave his hand a chakra burn. He grabbed his wrist and gritted his teeth in pain. Hiashi forced himself to stand back up and stare at the one who was supposedly kidnapping his daughter.

"If you fight again scary man, you might just get hurt. And if you havn't noticed, I havn't attacked you yet." To serve his intimidation purposes, he found a large rock around his height and crushed it. Something clicked in Hiashi's mind.

"Scary man?" Hiashi narrowed his eyes at his opponent. "Is that you, Naruto?"

The boy gave a sigh of relief. "Hai, Hiashi-sama. And I'm kind of hungry now. Can I explain after we get Hinata inside?" Naruto asked. The guards and the two patrols were unsure, but with how much their clan head seemed to trust newcomer, they didn't dare question him. They just decided to escort him in case the machine did anything funny, not that they stood a chance.

Hinata was carefully placed into her bed by a still transformed Naruto. Thankfully, Hitomi had already set the young girl's bed. After saying goodnight, Hiashi followed Naruto to his room.

"Hiashi-sama, may I take a moment of privacy?" Naruto looked towards the boy and the robot gave a look back that said 'I'll explain later'.

Inside his room, Naruto managed to quickly transform back into his human self and fished out a new suit. "I really need to find a way to fix this problem with the clothes." He sighed heavily. "Just how much did Hinata-chan see?"

 **"Go ask her yourself!"** Kurama roared with laughter. Naruto just visited his mindscape to put his tongue out at the Bijuu when Optimus had an idea. "There might be a seal for that sort of thing. One that would cause clothes to reappear. Or maybe a space-time ninjutsu to store clothes." Naruto nodded in thanks before heading out of his room again. The normally stoic hyuga escorts back tracked, this was the one that had showed them up?! They left Hiashi when he reached his office and beckoned them to leave. Hiashi sat down sternly on his chair. Standing next to him on his right was Hitomi. "Ok, Naruto, what happened when since we last saw you?"

Naruto sighed. "I found out how to activate my eyes and make my armour much better. The eyes activate like this. Tsuihogan!"

Hiashi nodded in approval. "Good work. I have also witnessed the power of your new armour, how do you activate it?"

"Same way as my eyes. But I would rather not do it now." Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "When I transform back my, uh, clothes are no longer there." Naruto turned red from embarrassment. He decided to leave out the little detail that Hinata had seen him at that exact time. "Kiba, Shino, Choji and Shikamaru also know."

Hiashi suddenly turned even more serious. "How? Do they know to keep it secret?"

Naruto had a flashback where Shino seemed to have dirt on Kiba. "Yes, I'm sure they can keep a secret." Naruto replied before rubbing his head and feeling sheepish. "They thought that someone had kidnapped me because Kiba could smell me. And we had a sort of, er, fight." Naruto saw the look the clan head gave him and immediately raised his hands to show innocence. "But nobody got hurt! I promise!"

"Fine, I believe you. But what about that hole in your room?"

"I was testing my new jutsu and then Hinata came in, screamed and air palmed me." Naruto shrugged his shoulders. This was better than letting Hiashi know he wasn't yet sure of how strong he was.

"Now what jutsu would cause her to do that?"

"This one! Oiroke no jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, Hiashi's jaw dropped at the woman standing before him. The next second Naruto was sent through the wall by a powerful air palm by Hitomi.

"Naruto-kun! H-how dare you do that in front of us!" Hitomi said, blushing furiously. She then turned around and slapped her husband back to his senses as he was stuck staring after Naruto.

A very tired looking Naruto crawled back in through the hole. "That was exactly what Hinata did."

"I-I can see why." Hiashi breathed out heavily. "Ok, Naruto, get some rest, we need to go to the Hokage tomorrow morning and see what to do about your new powers. And maybe that clothes problem."

Naruto grinned happily, "Can I get some ramen before I sleep?" He asked innocently.

Hiashi waved his hand in dismissal. "Knock yourself out."

Naruto leapt up into the air. "No problem Hiashi-sama, I will do just that! This is so cool you know!" And with that the boy dashed away.

"Ma-matte Naruto! I was joking! Don't knock yourself out with... ramen..." Hiashi had almost flown out of his seat after Naruto before Hitomi took hold of his shoulder and calmed him enough to sit back down. The clan head rubbed his temples. "Second day here and he's already giving me this many headaches." Hitomi laughed. "Come Hiashi, it's time we also head to rest." Hiashi smiled and followed his wife.

After Naruto had finished his ramen, he was looking up at his ceiling. 'What an interesting day.' He thought. New powers and a new armour. Wow. The boy quickly lay down to go to sleep and almost immediately found himself in the presence of the Kurama and Optimus. He looked over to the smaller bumblebee and an idea popped into his head. "Neh, Optimus." Naruto called. The autobot turned his attention to the blonde. "If Bumblebee is that much bigger than me in here, then how come I don't change in height when I transform?"

"Maybe there is a technique we need to know. Such as the Akamichi expansion jutsu."

"Woah, awesome! Imagine what a giant robot like that could do! I'm gonna ask Choji to teach me tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow is tomorrow Naruto. Go to sleep." Optimus ordered. Less than a minute later, the young jinchuriki entered a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

Uchiha Itachi was running silently on top of the rooftops in full ANBU uniform. He was on his way to the Hokage's tower where he had been summoned. He was also told to ensure he was not seen at this time of night. This was critical. The Uchiha vaulted over the large fence and headed straight for the tower. Upon entering he cast a genjutsu on everyone he met, just to think that he had never been there. He opened the Hokage's door and entered quickly without knocking and bowed down. In front of him were the Hokage and his three elders. Danzo, Homura and Koharu were sat in place for the meeting. Itachi kept his kneeling position next to Uchiha Shisui.

"Itachi, Shisui, what have you learned from your clan's recent meeting?" Hiruzen asked both his visitors.

Itachi spoke first. "Despite me and Shisui's efforts, the clan intends to go through with the coup. They have stated the exact places to target and where they will lay the traps."

"We must do something soon, Hiruzen." Koharu said, turning her head to face the Hokage.

"Surely you must realize that simply talking to the Uchiha won't work." Danzo added. "We should strike now and cripple the coup before it becomes serious. With our combined ANBU we can surprise them and take them out with minimal casualties."

Hiruzen put up his hand. "Be patient Danzo, they still haven't said who is involved in this. We cannot simply massacre the all the Uchiha. Shisui, carry on."

"Hokage-sama, so far we are completely sure that only those Uchiha who have activated the sharingan are participating. The rest know about this but are too frightened to act. Itachi's father, Fugaku, is leading the attack and it's organization. Despite the risks the coup may cause for the village, he foolishly insists we continue and has even asked me and Itachi to spy on you for them."

"So only those that have unlocked their sharingan are taking part?" Koharu clarified.

"Hai, they were the only ones present at the meeting and warned that none of the information should leave the room. Not even to their wives or children." Shisui answered, keeping his head down.

"Do you know why you clan is doing this?" Homura asked.

"Ever since we Uchiha were given the duty of the police force, my father thought of it as a way to keep us out of the village unknowingly. He has also long since believed that Madara should have been the Hokage. I managed to keep him in check, but ever since the Kyubi attack, the village seems to have lost trust in them. But now they do not care. They will either take over the village or die trying." Itachi answered solemnly. "We shall give you the information you require, but please do not injure those who are not involved."

"Do not worry Itachi. I give you and Shisui my word that as long as you are both loyal to the village, we shall be merciful." Hiruzen comforted.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The two Uchiha said in unison. Itachi took out a map. "Here are their plans..."

A few minutes after Shisui and Itachi left, Hiruzen called on his ANBU. "Summon all the clan heads except for Fugaku. If he asks why he was not summoned then inform him that it is simply paperwork and other small clan matters that would be too much trouble for him. Also tell him just to continue doing his duty."

After the team left, Danzo turned to Hiruzen. "Well then, let us prepare for battle."

* * *

 **Shorter than last time, sorry. Don't worry the next chapters will make up for it!**

 **Anyway, I'd like to thank all of you for your support so far. As this is my first crossover, I was a little unsure about the reception this story would get, but so far this is doing pretty good. We hope that you all continue to support us as we bring you another one-of-a-kind story from the depths of The Dark Dragon Emperor's imagination, and Yatsushiro's writing.**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	4. Chapter 4: Let the Times Roll Out

Chapter 4: Let the Times Roll Out

* * *

 **Hello my wonderful readers, your favorite author here with another wonderful chapter straight from the muse of Yatsushiro Ryko. Get ready, this is a big one.**

 **Nothing much to say right now, so let's get to the reviews**

 **Rebmul: It's the movie versions of the Transformers.**

 **ben revell: Aye, the Cybertron series was my favorite too.**

 **Now then, let's get this party started!**

* * *

(Unknown)

Unknown to anyone but a select few, the Uzumaki clan was far from extinct. A three day journey to the west of Konoha deep in the dense forests of the Fire country lay a small hidden village that contained the majority of the survivors of Uzushiogakure. Being specialized in fuinjutsu, all the surrounding area had been rigged with barriers specially designed to casually deter any living presence that happened to stumble anywhere close to the village. Whatever approached the area would not notice anything amiss but would slowly start heading in another direction without noticing and not really caring. As far as they were concerned there was nothing there. The only way to get through the invisible barrier and into the well hidden village was if you had a special seal engraved onto your shoulder that acted as a key.

Behind the barriers the survivors of Uzushio were living as normal a life as they were able. Clothes shops, schools, restaurants and many other facilities were present to help them enjoy life in peace without fear. The majority of the population trained in their unique skills with a passion. Being phenomenal masters in Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu and Taijutsu, they were very much feared as a clan on par with the mighty Uchiha and Senju. This was also not taking into account their unique kekkai genkai. Most of all the males could open what they called the celestial gates that gave a deadly boost in speed and strength. There were ten of these gates and differed from the inner gates as they had no ill effects on their user afterward but required a cool down time instead which varied from each individual and could be unlocked one by one depending on the user's physical and spiritual strength. Most of the female Uzumaki only had half as much chakra as their male counterparts but made up for it by calling on powerful sealing chains from their bodies which could be used to attack or defend at will. Needless to say the Uzumaki were also well known to have extremely large reserves of chakra naturally and great longevity. With all this they were a very powerful and independent clan that didn't have any harsh rites of passage or any of that nonsense. They simply lived with their own respective families happily. It would have been a shame to let their abilities diminish over time.

Over half of the village's land was used up solely in training grounds and sparring areas. In the centre of the tiled village was a great library full of seals that the Uzumaki specialized in. Coming from Uzushio, the building layout followed a spiraling pattern that was very clear from a bird's eye view of the village. The roads were tiled with green blue and white tiles that reminded them so much of their former home and the buildings themselves were built from sturdy wood. Each large two story house looked like a traditional Japanese teahouse that had lanterns hanging outside at night.

The Uzumaki were powerful, but with this power grew fear. During the second great shinobi war, Uzushiogakure was one of the first to fall. Kiri, Iwa and Kumo led a joint attack on the much smaller hidden village and tried to overwhelm it with their combined might. Uzushiogakure held its ground for a full three days, reducing the opposing army considerably and forcing the three great nations to hesitate. Uzushio was also suffering from its losses and the second Uzukage decided that the only way for his people to survive was to buy them enough time to evacuate and there was only one way to do that. He instructed his brother along with the elders to take everyone to Konoha. The second Uzukage told his brother to ask Tobirama (the second Hokage) for help and with that he handed his brother the Sacred Scroll and asked him to pass it down to his son. The next day very next day, with only ten of his most powerful shinobi, the brave Uzukage and his squad charged their attackers head on. They had fought viciously for a day before they were overwhelmed. The Uzukage breathed his last breath with relief. His people were safe.

The group had successfully met with Tobirama, the second Hokage, who quickly promised them aid. He denied their request to aid in the war and pointed out that they should first focus on their own safety. Since Konoha wasn't the safest place to be in, Tobirama led them to a secluded part of the forest where no fighting seemed to be taking place. It was here where they resurrected their village and set up their protective barrier. Due to the fear of being discovered, most remained within the village. However four warriors were sent to accompany Tobirama and act as messengers and bodyguards. The Uzumaki had been saddened when they learned that Tobirama had shared a similar fate to that of their Uzukage, giving his life so others could survive. Soon after, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been appointed Sandaime Hokage and had been shown the way to their village. The third had asked if they wanted to come live within Konoha as the war was over. The Uzumaki had politely declined the offer as if word got out that they were still alive, a similar scene to Uzushio could potentially repeat itself as many feared them.

Hashirama's wife Mito Uzumaki visited them once before she passed away. She had come to search for an Uzumaki strong enough to take her place as the container of the Kyubi as she was growing very old. She feared that if she died then the nine tailed fox would be freed and release destruction to the world. Sadly her only option had been a rather young five year old girl who she discovered was the only daughter of the late Uzukage. After getting her uncle's consent they started the transfer immediately and with all the fuinjutsu experts present, nothing could have gone wrong. Because she was an Uzumaki, the old Mito managed to survive having the bijuu extracted and lived her last days among family. Kushina Uzumaki then followed her Hiruzen back to Konoha where she would call her home. Without the rightful heir present, they all turned to her uncle, the one who had led them out of Uzushio. He reluctantly took up the position knowing that the scroll would only open for the rightful heir. Kushina visited every now and again and each time refused to take the scroll as if she knew what was in it, someone could probably take the information off her person and put the clan at risk. Together with the elders, they agreed that Kushina's child should take up the mantle as Uzukage and clan head once he or she came of age.

Then fifteen years ago, Kushina had come saying that she was finally getting married and apologized as she wouldn't be able to visit them anymore for quite a while. In her absence, the title of temporary clan head passed down to her cousin Shipuu Uzumaki. Said man was patiently waiting for his cousin to return with the heir but was starting to become worried. They were no longer aware of anything outside their village as they had all that they required in it. They had no way of knowing the devastating attack of the Kyubi when it arrived at Konoha and that the heir they were looking for had become its next jinchuriki.

* * *

(Three Days Ago)

Shipuu Uzumaki was in a deep thinking state again. Thoughts of his cousin and her wellbeing wouldn't leave his mind. _'Fifteen years, the heir might be fourteen or fifteen right now.'_ He thought to himself.

 _'Or maybe they waited a while and he's still younger.'_

 _'Well I'll see what the council thinks. It would probably be ok if we checked up on the child now. Wait, girl or boy?'_

The tall man just sat back in his chair over his temporary desk. The man was in his early thirties and was considerably powerful. Maybe not as much as he knew his nephew or niece could become, but powerful all the same. If not for his emerald green eyes and the bright red hair, he would have looked very similar to the Hyuga. His robes were another issue however as where the Hyuga wore mostly white, these battle robes were very colourful and each cloak had a brilliant story emblazoned on each one if there was time to look. After a few more minutes o his entranced thinking, Shipuu called for one of his guards to summon the council while he got his kids. They would be essential to the plan he had forming in his head. He was silently hoping that the new heir didn't have as much energy as his son. Actually he would prefer if the heir was nothing like his son at all. He decided to visit his children in their favourite training ground. Safe inside the barrier there was not many reasons for security and due to their small size, conflicts were easily avoided, mostly due to the clan's cheerful if, somewhat violent, nature.

* * *

(In the Said Training Ground)

Shipuu's wife, Yugiri Uzumaki, was watching her triplets train. Being the leading female figure in the clan, she had been instructed to act as a role model for the young shinobi and kunoichi and she regrettably had to force herself to act polite. Being an almost untamable wild soul, this had proven extremely challenging. Yugiri had even ended up scaring her husband who commented that she was 'Kushina's frightening long lost twin.' This had also been based on the fact that if they didn't dress differently and wear different hairstyles, they would have been creepily identical. Where Kushina preferred in letting her long hair hang free, Yugiri preferred wearing her hair in a traditional bun. They duo had gone so far as to both approach Shipuu while looking identical and the poor man had fled from the deadly duo for almost an entire day for fear of kissing Kushina instead of his wife. Not to mention that Yugiri found that he couldn't tell the difference quite insulting. She had single handedly come up with the 'Frying Pan no Jutsu' specifically for her husband.

Yugiri smiled. She and Kushina had become close during their visits and the two discovered one thing. They were both wild and hot headed and had some sort of knack for getting into trouble. If only Yugiri wasn't bound to remain hidden, she would have gladly joined her surrogate sister. Oh the horrors they could achieve in a village as large as Konoha. Currently she was leaning against a large willow tree near the river as she watched her children practice in the grass field in front of her.

Meanwhile a boy and his two sisters were practicing their throwing skills on some of the throwing logs which held the targets. The eldest sibling, Kaede, was mostly silent. She would join in the mischievousness of her brother and sister due to all her spare energy. But while her two siblings loved more physical forms of battle, she would prefer using fuinjutsu and spent a lot of her spare time silently reading scrolls. Her tactical mindset and general intelligence providing much needed planning for heir well known pranks. She wore her straight, long and red hair freely with long bangs covering her emerald green eyes. Since her head was mostly buried in a book or scroll, not many people got to see the young, silent girl look up.

Akane however, was almost nothing like her sister. Being much more hyperactive and slightly tomboyish in nature, she was like a ticking time bomb. She had so much raw energy running through her that most of the time she wasn't able sit still. She liked physically training to her limits and she simply admired using a sword. Whereas her sister's long straight hair hung low to her lower back, Akane's spiky red hair reached her shoulders. Any longer and she viewed it as a nuisance. Where her sister excelled in seals and thought things through, Akane had more of a 'Let my fists do the talking' attitude and she excelled in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu.

The youngest of the trio was Arashi. Unknown to them at that time he was a stunning image of Naruto. The only difference being that his hair was the Uzumaki shade of red and had stunning green eyes. His choice of clothing was much worse however. A bright orange jumpsuit would have screamed 'KILL ME!' in the shinobi world, but a neon yellow jumpsuit was a self painted bull's-eye. And it was annoying. Both of his sisters for the life of them couldn't figure him out. They wore black battle kimonos that went well with their hair. Akane had even once gone far enough to deny that Arashi was her brother. Arashi was not the most talented boy around. The boy had a potential for power, but a long way away. He certainly wasn't very bright either and had a very short fuse, even for an Uzumaki.

The two older girls had the basic gist of throwing kunai and shurikens but sadly, their little brother was as far from it as anyone could possibly get. With every throw, he seemed to disturb some form of wildlife in the nearby bushes or in the forest itself. Kaede and Akane wouldn't be very surprised if Arashi would accidentally find them extra dinner with a very unlucky creature that would just happen to pass by.

"Gaahhh! It isn't working!" Arashi yelled, slumping back down to the ground. Akane snickered.

"That just proves you've got no talent. Girls are better than boys after all." Akane crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out for added effect.

"Oh yeah! Prove it!" Arashi yelled back sarcastically, glaring at her from where he sat. Akane sighed and threw a kunai dead centre with barely a glance. She grinned smugly at her slightly younger brother. Arashi lost his cool and glared at Akane.

"Celestial Gate Release: First Gate!" he yelled as a mass of dense blew chakra was emitted around him. With a childish battle cry he charged his sister who sighed again. She turned to her more silent sister.

"Kaede, a little help if you don't mind."

Kaede stopped focusing on the task on hand and nodded. "Celestial Manifestation!" They shouted in sync. Four golden chains erupted from each girls body and they easily chained their raging sibling who was thrashing wildly.

Yugiri laughed and came to diffuse the situation. She leap gracefully from her watchful position and landed gently next to her fuming son. A hand on his shoulder was all it took for him to calm down and the swirling blue energy slowly dissipated. Seeing this his twin sisters recalled their chains.

"Ok children, back to training now" Yugiri smiled. Arashi grumbled something unintelligible as he pulled out a kunai.

"Ka-san, Arashi is gonna get a rabbit for us tonight when he misses!" Akane chirped.

Arashi growled in defiance. "Yeah right, I can hit it 'ttebayo!" With those words he flung the kunai with all his might. Four sets of eyes watched its flight into the greenery, frightening a small badger. Akane snickered while Yugiri raised an eyebrow at her son with her arms crossed. Arashi looked at his mother and raised an arm to rub his neck while grinning sheepishly. "Ehehe, you see…I…" he didn't get to finish as his father had just arrived on the scene after his peaceful walk. "Yugiri, take the kids and come with me. We've got a council meeting that involves you."

Akane immediately went up to Arashi and slapped the back of his head. "What did you do this time baka!" She yelled in anger. "Apologize now!"

Arashi was still semi conscious on the ground below so he didn't get to hear his father laugh.

"Calm down Akane, nobody did anything wrong. It's just an important meeting to help us decide what to do with your cousin." Shipuu calmed them with asmile on his face.

The three siblings raised an eyebrow and Arashi spoke their question. "Kira?"

"No, no. Your possible cousin, hmm, or cousins in Konoha. They are going to be your aunty Kushina's children."

Arashi's face lit up. "Woah that's cool! Are they coming soon?"

Shipuu shook his head. "That's what we will be discussing with the council. Now come along and no more questions till we get there." And with those words, the family took a peaceful walk back to the village.

A few hours later.

"Haha, this is gonna be so cool! We meet our cousin…s soon!" Arashi was packing his things as quickly as was possible, dashing here and there and knocking a great many things over.

"Arashi. Calm down. Finish packing up and stop making everything so hard." Kaede was already irritated that she could not bring most of the scrolls she had been planning to study as they were not permitted outside the library. Since they were headed to Konoha for an extended stay, she would not be able to get back to her precious scrolls any time soon. Just thinking about it made her cringe.

The hyperactive boy packing next to her however had paid no heed. "Neh, Kaede. Would you prefer a boy or a girl as a cousin." Arashi stopped for a moment and seemed to be deep in thought. "Hopefully, if it's a boy then I hope he's like me. But if it's a girl then I hope she's better looking than my other two…" The next second Arashi was blasted through the wall of the second floor as Akane's fist connected violently with his face. Kaede took a glance and snickered before Yugiri turned around with a smirk on her face and pretended to scold her daughters in a motherly tone.

"Now now girls, you shouldn't be very violent towards your brother. He may be a baka but look at the damage hitting him does."

Arashi chose that moment to leap back into the room yelling victoriously. "Yatta! Tell them Ka-san!"

His mother responded by punching him back out the way he came, much to her daughters' amusement. She walked over to the second hole in the wall for the day and peeked two stories down at her son. "As for you young man, stop giving them reason to hit you! Now get back up here so we can finish packing!"

Arashi lazily lifted his face from the tiled pathway to look up at his mother. "Hai…" he barely managed to let out before collapsing back down. Yugiri sighed, what had she gone wrong? Kushina had better be happy to see her.

* * *

(A Little While Back)

All the gathered officials had supported their leader's decision and very few counter arguments were put in place aside from the obvious risk of venturing out. There usually weren't many meetings to call as due to their isolation, therefore not many problems popped out. Attending the meeting were the other clan heads of the smaller clans that had occupied Uzushio alongside the Uzumaki. They consisted of the Uzuki, Sunohara, Seiza, Negai and Ryuudan. While not as powerful as the Uzumaki, they were still powerful shinobi in general. Having no need for privacy or security measures, the council gathered together in a small park to discuss. It was here that Shipuu suggested sending a small party to Konoha to check on his cousin and the status of their heir. The party would consist of his three children and his wife and were to be accompanied by four of the strongest warriors currently at their disposal. His reasoning being that Kushina and her husband would be more at ease with a familiar face. The brief meeting had ended quickly and the council had reached a unanimous decision to send Yugiri and her children to Konohagakure. The family had been ordered to leave in a few hours.

* * *

(A Few Hours Later)

The small group of Uzumaki that would venture for Konoha stood at the edge of the barrier. This gave the children just enough time to say goodbye to their father. "Don't worry dad, we'll get our cousin and aunty back!" Arashi boasted, thumping his chest for added effect.

"Tou-san, it's not yet too late to leave Arashi behind." Kaede complained sarcastically. As expected, her younger brother lost his temper and his already loud voice amplified, making every cringe.

"Gah! What's that supposed to mean!" he yelled defiantly before turning around to cross his arms and pout. Akane and her sister merely rolled their eyes in annoyance.

Shipuu laid a hand on Arashi's shoulder to calm him down. "Remember, outside this barrier is no longer safe, you will no longer be hidden. This means you will not be safe until you have reached Konoha and that is a three day journey. As much as possible no messing around until then, understood?"

The shinobi present acknowledged the command. With one last hug from Arashi, the group leapt into the trees. Shipuu watched the retreating figures of his family and realized all he could do now was pray to Kami that they would remain safe.

* * *

(Two Days Later)

A group of twenty Kumo nin were on their way home after a successful assassination in Kiri. The target had had a small army of commoners and only two chunin level shinobi. The proud ninja had slaughtered them as per orders and were now on leaping through the fire country's jungle. All of a sudden, their sensor detected something and warned the others to stop.

"Impossible." He uttered in disbelief.

"What's up old man?" The commanding officer asked out of concern. They were an elite group of twenty shinobi. What could possibly spook the old sensor? He had survived two great shinobi wars after all. It took one word to change everything. The Raikage would not forgive them to let this opportunity pass.

"Uzumaki…"

"Ka-san? Are we there yet?" Arashi whined as they leapt through the trees. Akane clenched her fists in irritation and ground her teeth.

"Shut up for five minutes Arashi! You've been asking that nonstop ever since this morning!" The hot tempered red head yelled.

"At least it's not as annoying as calling for a break every ten minutes! Besides, you've been 'going to the bathroom' quite a lot. We should have been in Konoha by now if not for you!" He countered. Kaede didn't feel the need to warn Arashi to watch where he was going and sure enough, her little brother slammed into a tree trunk, allowing for Akane to snicker while the rest of the group paused to watch at the children's antics. One of the four escorts then snapped to attention and began speaking urgently.

"Yugiri-sama! Large force heading our way, possibly hostile."

The group sobered immediately and set grim expressions, awaiting orders.

"Taiki, Hiroki. You two continue on with Yugiri-sama. Mariko, stay here with me. We will hold them off."

"Hai, Hachiro-senpai." The three answered in unison. Everyone acted on the order almost instantaneously with the others leaping back into the trees as fast as possible while Hachiro and Mariko turned to stand their ground and wait.

Sure enough two minutes later, the small Kumo battalion halted in front of the duo and eyed them suspiciously.

"Noble sacrifices hm." One of the men sneered.

"This makes it easier, imagine what Raikage-sama is going to give us as a reward for capturing you two." Added another, already rubbing his hands together in anticipation. After a few more minutes of glaring, an unsaid signal came to start the fight.

"Raiton: Kuro ikazuchi yari!" (Lightning release: Black Lightning Spear) One of the Kumo nin yelled, forming a crackling spear of black chakra and launching it towards the pair.

"Ten no Kengen: Genso no hogo!" (Celestial Manifestation: Elemental Protection.) Mariko countered. Golden chains then erupted from her body and started spinning dangerously fast in front of her partner and herself. The black chakra spear connected and hung there for a moment before being absorbed by the chains. Said chains then began crackling in black lightning chakra as they stopped spinning and pointed back at the one who had thrown the spear.

Mariko held an arm forward and shouted, "Hansha!" (Reflection) Now combined with her chakra, the deadly spear was again formed but this time it was almost twice as big. The Kumo ninja with common sense leapt away from where she was aiming, but two of the ninja seemed to just be staring at her in shock. They screamed as the jutsu vaporized them.

Recognizing the danger of using Ninjutsu, two of the remaining Kumo shinobi drew swords and charged at Mariko. With an almost careless flick from the chains, the weapons were snatched out of their hands and used to impale their previous owners. Mariko spotted two more hiding near the tree line and preparing a collaborative jutsu. That couldn't be good. Two more of her deadly chains shot out and wrapped around the enemy ninja's throats, forcing them to interrupt the seal making and clutch at their throats, desperately trying to pull the golden chains away. Mariko then smiled as she felt a familiar power wash over her.

"Ten no mon rirīsu: Dai roku gēto!" (Celestial Gate Release: Sixth gate) Hachiro yelled. The enemy ninja gasped at his visible change in appearance. The amount of chakra stored within him was being released and could visibly be seen as a blue, flaming aura around him. His hair seemed to blow outwards due to the chakra and his eyes, the entirety of them were glowing a very strong blue.

Then he moved.

In a blur he was up next to a Kumo shinobi and let fly a powerful roundhouse kick that shattered his adversary's chest cavity. The next enemy was a little more prepared and held out his massive sword in front of him to block but to his horror, the sword shattered from the hit and he was thrown backwards from the impact, slamming his head into thick tree, killing him instantly. He turned to a group of three who were desperately trying to form another collaborative jutsu. His hands rapidly formed seals at a much greater speed than them and accomplished his jutsu first. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Taigun!" (Water release: Water Dragon Horde) Six fearsome dragons erupted from around him and in an instant had two had each slammed down onto one member.

Hachiro then heard a yell behind him and turned just in time to see the man get impaled by a golden chain. Hachiro walked up to the shinobi and planted his hand on his chest forming a seal. A second later the seal was complete and Hachiro kicked the man powerfully in the chest, sending him flying like a bullet to three other comrades. The human missile barreled into one and the other two could only watch in horror as their teammates exploded, engulfing all four in flames.

He turned to the last group of four and cocked his head to the side in surprise when he noticed that all four had been supplying chakra to power a jutsu. It was no doubt a powerful one. The lightning began crackling and gathering in their hands and they all thrust into the centre together yelling, "Raiton: Yomo kaminari doriru!" (Four Way Lightning Drill) It all condensed into a small ball before letting loose a blinding flash of light as the crackling beam shot its way through the forest towards its intended target.

The four were now exhausted. They had poured everything they had into that last attack and were hoping to at least get back to Kumogakure alive. When their eyes cleared they stared at the destruction caused in the wake of the lightning bolt. The ground was scorched black and the trunks of many trees had been turned into charred remains. They gasped in shock, not because of what they had done, but because of the figures standing at the centre of it all. The two looked unharmed.

"Well well, that was a nice one." Hachiro chuckled. "It tickled."

"Hachiro-senpai, we need to get back to Yugiri-sama. Please stop messing around." Mariko asked politely.

Hachiro sighed. "Well then, here we go." He grinned at the other four spectators. "Lightning is powerful…" he started, forming a crackling ball of it in his left hand, "…But what happens if we add water to it?" he continued, forming a similar ball of water on his right. "I guess it's time for you to find out!" With that, Hachiro clapped his hands together. The effect was similar to the first; it produced a beam of lightning wide enough to cover a house. But added to this powerful beam was highly condensed water travelling at immense speed. Either attack alone would have been enough to decimate the remaining four, but the combination attack ripped apart any symbol of hope they would have had.

After surveying the destruction Hachiro turned to the way Yugiri had gone and leapt up back into the tree line with Mariko following close behind him. "Mariko, hurry up. Once we catch up to Yugiri-sama we will continue as her escort to Konohagakure as fast as possible. We will not rest tonight so we should be able to make it there by early morning." Mariko nodded in affirmative and they picked up their pace to catch up with the group. Unknown to them, they were being watched. The Kumo ninja that had sensed them was disguised as part of a tree when they passed overhead. When they were long gone he too, surveyed the wreckage. "Raikage-sama will want to find the others of the Uzumaki clan urgently." He muttered to himself. The aging man had pieced everything he had heard together and was now sure that the Uzumaki were in hiding somewhere. And if the clan was planning on moving to Konoha, no. They could not be allowed that. The frightened man had been there on the attack on Uzushio and knew the power of the Uzumaki. If the clan had successfully replenished itself since that time they were already a terrifying power. And if Konoha accepted them then the Konohagakure's power would increase drastically. He quickly began the long journey home. He had to report this.

* * *

(Present Day)

Kotetsu and Izumo were sulking. The Hokage had ordered them to be on station at six sharp in the morning and the sun was barely even up. After the meeting the night before, most of the clan heads had warned their respective clans to keep away from the Uchiha and stay as close as possible to their respective compounds. The villagers had gotten a bad vibe for something the other night as well and most seemed reluctant to start waking even though everyday work regularly started at seven. Izumo and Kotetsu's duty in this was to dissuade the coming and going of people from the village due to the risk of getting caught in crossfire should a coup be launched. They sat at their station expecting a boring and tiresome day when they spotted a cloud of dust from the road and the source was approaching the gate fast. They activated an emergency seal before leaping in front of the gate to halt whoever was coming. A few seconds later an entire squad of ANBU had shunshined (body flickered) to aid them.

The group of fifteen ninja awaited the oncoming force which slowed to stop to reveal three children and five adults who stared back at the gate guards, unsure of what to do.

Arashi looked at the guards in confusion. Weren't they supposed to be welcome here? Or maybe this wasn't Konoha. Arashi shook his head at the thoughts and approached the guards with a smile. "Hello, nice to meet you. Can we get in now? We want to speak to the Hokage. And we're kinda tired you know." Arashi kept up the smile as he greeted them and raised his hand to rub the back of his head.

One of the ANBU misunderstood the gesture and body flickered behind Arashi holding a kunai to his throat, shocking his fellow ANBU. Itachi was one of them and behind the mask his sharingan was already active. He was wary of the newcomers as their chakra levels were very, very high. What shocked him even more however, was what he saw when they reacted to the danger of one of their own. Their chakra levels skyrocketed and Itachi knew he would have to diffuse this quickly. Fifteen ANBU and two chunin would be no match for the firepower this group carried. Not to mention the potential damage to the village an assault would cause.

"Ten no mon rirīsu: Dai nani gēto!" (Seventh Gate) the three grown men yelled in unison as they began glowing blue. "Ten no Kengen!" (Celestial Manifestation) All the women followed suit and eight menacing chains from each female hovered dangerously in the air. There was also the captive to think of as he had already broken free from his captor and activated his own Celestial Gate and rejoined his group. All eight then bombarded the remaining ANBU with a huge wave of killing intent that caused Izumo and Kotetsu to shiver and their knees quake. Even the other ANBU looked visibly shaken.

Before anything else could happen Itachi had leapt into the middle of the two groups and faced the newcomers. Slowly, the Uchiha removed his mask and raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "I sincerely apologize for our behavior but I believe we have gotten off on the wrong foot. I am Itachi Uchiha and we were alerted to a possible threat at this gate." He explained a little uneasily.

Yugiri nodded and everyone retracted the power they had been displaying. "Pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-san. I am Yugiri Uzumaki and these three children are mine. The four over here are Uzumaki as well and are our guards. We request permission to meet Hiruzen-sama."

Itachi was bewildered. 'Uzumaki? All of them? How come? Why are they here?' he thought. Itachi motioned to another ANBU agent. "Cat, report to Hokage-sama. There are people at the gate who wish to see him. Cat had stepped forward and was about to shunshin but Yugiri signaled for the agent to wait.

"When he asks tell him this: The spiraling plight of red from second unto third."

Cat nodded in affirmative before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. Itachi turned from the agent back to the Uzumaki group. "I'm sorry Uzumaki-san, but we request you wait here until we receive word from the hokage."

"It is not an issue, Uchiha-san."

"But Ka-san! I'm tired and I wanna sleep you know!" Arashi whined. Akane scowled and hit him upside the head.

"Baka! The least you can do is behave!" Akane growled.

"I agree. Less than a minute in the village and you nearly get us into a fight." Kaede added, fiercely glaring at her little brother.

"It's not my fault! He started it!" Arashi countered pointing at the still downed ANBU that had threatened him. Yugiri face palmed, well so much for a good first impression.

* * *

(Ten minutes Earlier-Hokage Tower)

"Hiruzen, my clan is ready should the Uchiha try anything. They have been told to remain inside the compound and confine the children as much as possible. Any child leaving will have an escort of at least two grown Hyuga." Hiashi reported sternly.

Hiruzen turned away from the windows and his dreams of painting the sunset. "That is all very well Hiashi, but that was necessary and I do not see why you have requested to come see me for simply that this early in the morning."

Hiashi sighed. "It's about Naruto and his powers again."

"Haven't we talked about those before the meeting last night?" Hiruzen leaned forward onto his desk with his arms supporting his head.

Hiashi sighed again before dropping into a seat and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yes we have, but there has been a new development."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at this. Seeing Hiashi was waiting for him to say something he signaled him to continue.

"His armour, he has somehow developed it into something more powerful than its previous state. He seems like a walking machine. He is powerful enough to crush large rocks in this form and the armour itself is very powerful. It also seems immune to our jyuken attacks." Hiashi raised his right hand for the hokage to see. "This is what I got for attempting to close a tenkutsu point. It seems the chakra I was going to force in was thrust back at me. Which brings me to the next issue; in this form he is completely masked. No chakra can be seen from him. It's almost like he is just a complete machine."

It was now Hiruzen's turn to sigh as he leaned back into his chair and lit his pipe. "Is this all because of the incident a few days ago?" Hiashi simply nodded. "Well I guess all we can do is hope for the best." The old man added. "He will continue to attend the academy and we will not interfere in his life. But do ensure he doesn't do anything silly."

Both old men looked at each other and smiled. "He had to take after his mother." Hiashi joked while the Sandaime chuckled well heartedly.

All of a sudden there was a small disturbance off leaves and an ANBU agent appeared. "Hokage-sama, there was trouble at the gate. The visitors wish to see you."

Hiruzen laughed. "That isn't new Cat. We have that every once in a while."

"Hokage-sama, they say they are Uzumaki."

At this the old man's eyes narrowed. "What have they told you?"

"The spiraling plight of red from second unto third."

Hiruzen jolted up. "Hiashi, come with me. We have to treat our guests. Cat, I hope you have not angered them in any way."

Cat blinked. "I'm afraid that is too late sir, there was a slight confrontation at the front gate."

The old man spun around abruptly." What!" He demanded angrily. "That is a foolish move!"

Cat flinched. It was rare for the peace loving Sandaime to display anger. "We are now aware of the risk Hokage-sama. Rest assured, Itachi has managed to get them back to neutral terms."

The Sandaime wore a look of relief. He then held Hiashi's shoulder and he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, soon followed by Cat.

* * *

(At The Gate)

Itachi was slightly amused at the ongoing interaction between the three siblings. He was about to bet against himself how long the confrontation would last before a swirl of leaves indicated that the Hokage and the Hyuga clan head had arrived. Itachi was surprised to notice how the siblings almost immediately ceased their bickering and followed their mother's example when she bowed down to the hokage.

"Hokage-sama, it is a pleasure to finally meet you again." Yugiri greeted with her head bowed.

"Hello Yugiri-chan, why did you give no warning you were visiting?" Hiruzen replied with a friendly smile.

"My apologies Hokage-sama. We could not risk simply sending birds."

"Yes yes of course," Hiruzen waved off the topic with his hand. "So what has inspired his visit?"

"Shipuu is curious about the heir." Yugiri informed him, standing up straight to look him in the eye.

When Hiruzen's face flashed a grim look for a second, Yugiri caught it and knew something was up. Something bad.

"Ok, follow me, we can talk inside the hokage tower." Hiruzen replied, his face set back into a friendly welcoming grin. Hiashi was the only one who noticed a lot more smoke escaping the Sandaime's pipe than usually did and he understood the fact that his old friend was suddenly under a large amount of stress. Hiruzen turned around and gestured for the Uzumaki to follow him. Given clearance the ANBU present all scattered and went on their way.

It was a quiet stroll back to the hokage tower. Nobody seemed willing to say anything. It was probably for the best as he wasn't sure how they would take the news. He had been dreading visiting the Uzumaki to inform them of the tragedy. At that time, he had convinced himself that as the hokage of a torn village, it was his duty to patch it up and he used the excuse that he was always far too busy and that the village needed him. No matter how he phrased it however, it came out sounding bad. The Sandaime blew out another plume of smoke. The day had hardly started and he already had all this on his desk. He was getting far too old for this job.

* * *

(Back at the Hokage's Tower)

Once they reached the hokage's office, Hiruzen wearily sat back down onto his chair and gave his visitors another glance. The old man watched as Hiashi settled down and his ANBU disappear into their usual spots before activating his privacy seals.

Yugiri stepped forward and bowed before starting.

"I am sorry once again, Hokage-sama, for showing up unexpectedly. But like I said, we are here to visit Kushina and her family for the meantime if you would allow us."

Hiashi looked down to the floor as Hiruzen sighed. "Yugiri-chan, there is no need for formalities. But there is something I have to tell you." Yugiri looked up expectantly. "Kushina and her husband are no longer with us."

It took a full minute for this information to settle in and Hiruzen watched their faces go from confusion to disbelief to anger and then to panic. "Hiruzen how did this happen! If Kushina is dead then what will happen to the Uzukage heritage?! She carried what you can call royal blood and we only agreed for her to be here because we believed she would be safe! What are we going to do now!?" Yugiri yelled breathlessly, the Uzumaki behind her allowing her to voice their thoughts.

Hiruzen held up his hand. "Calm down Yugiri-chan. Give me some time to explain and I'll fill you in on what you have missed."

Reluctantly, Yugiri took in deep breaths to help lower her blood temperature. She would have to listen to the old man to learn what had happened to her best friend. Grieving could be done later. When she was ready, Kushina's best friend gave a nod.

Thankful that everything had calmed down the Sandaime started his tale. "The last time Kushina visited you was to inform your village about her being betrothed and due to be married, am I right?" The mother of the kids nodded. "She married Minato Namikaze a few months afterwards."

Kaede looked up, suddenly interested. "The scholars Hokage-sama?" She asked curiously. She had heard of the Namikaze clan before and knew that they were a small intelligent clan that loved to study.

Hiruzen nodded. "The two were a powerful team. Minato was a prodigy; he soaked up information like a sponge. Together with Kushina he invented quite a couple of powerful techniques and even completed Lord Second's Hiraishin no jutsu. During the Third Great Ninja War he was a force to be reckoned with and became a one man army against Iwagakure. With this power he became known as 'The Yellow Flash of Konoha'. After the war, I officially stepped down from this office and he became the Yondaime Hokage. I remained here as an advisor for his office and watched as he and Kushina got married. They were very happy together." Hiruzen chuckled with Hiashi. "But she was a handful if I say so myself. Violent and quick tempered, I felt sorry for Minato at times."

Hiruzen's face then hardened. "Then on the night she was due to give birth, something terrible occurred." The hokage looked towards Yugiri. "What do you know of the Bijuu?"

Yugiri raised an eyebrow at the question and thought over her answer. "The tailed beasts are powerful chakra constructs created by the Rikudo Sennin. There are nine of them and each one has a certain number of tails representing its power. The Ichibi had one tail and the Kyubi had nine. Ever since we were able, we have been restraining them in Jinchuriki evenly distributed in between the villages."

Hiruzen nodded. "I'm sure you were aware that Kushina was a Jinchuriki as well."

Yugiri nodded again. "She was Mito-sama's replacement for the Kyubi."

"Did you know that during pregnancy, the seal holding the bijuu weakens more and more with every passing day. But during labour itself, here the seal is at its weakest. I still don't understand what happened that day. Nothing should have gone wrong. Minato had gone with Kushina far outside the village when the time had come and I had supplied him with over twenty ANBU as protection. On that night, the Kyubi no Kitsune broke loose from the seal, right outside our village."

The listening group gasped, knowing full well the consequences of loose bijuu. The most powerful one at that. "It shouldn't have happened, but when I investigated the area, all the ANBU I had stationed there were dead. It was like someone had interfered during the ongoing labour. We lost almost half the village and a great deal of ninja that day. Then the Minato managed to teleport the Kyubi further away from the village to prevent any more damage. No one knows for sure what happened after that, but when I arrived at the scene, Minato and Kushina had managed to restrain the Kyubi using her chains. And Kushina was carrying her child with her. Due to some sort of barrier husband and wife set up, I could only watch as the Kyubi impaled both of them while Minato performed the Shiki Fuin. Minato sealed the Kyubi into his own son that night."

Yugiri let the tears fall down her face. She wished she had been there that night, she could have helped. Kaede and Akane hugged their mother comfortingly while the others watched, unsure of what they could possibly do to help. Then something clicked in her head and she looked back up at the hokage.

"Hokage-sama, where is the boy? How old is he now? What does he look like?" She blurted out, desperate for some good news. Hiruzen smiled back at her and leaned back into his chair, relaxing.

"His name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. If you are asking why he does not go by the name Namikaze, we decided it would be safer for him. His father had many enemies and what better way to get revenge than by killing his child." Hiruzen opened an eye and studied Arashi carefully. "As for looks, he is very similar to your son. Just give him blonde hair and blue eyes instead of that red hair and green eyes and you can see what he looks like. And for attitude, he beats Kushina hands down. Loud, annoying and absolutely stubborn and hard headed. Also quite possibly the most innovative and well known prankster this village has ever known."

The sudden lighting up of the three children's faces did not escape Sarutobi's notice. "What has he done so far Hokage-sama?" Arashi beamed at him. The old man could have sworn he saw an evil glint in the boy's eyes.

"Well, he has defiled the Hokage monument numerous times, set the teacher's academy bathrooms to explode and somehow paint the ANBU into a colourful mess." Hiruzen immediately stopped listing. He had suddenly realized that these were Naruto's cousins and at the moment they seemed to already be plotting.

"I think I like my cousin already." Arashi smirked.

"You aren't the only one." Akane added. Kaede seemed to be deep in thought.

"Hokage-sama?" Yugiri said, catching the old man's attention. "If the whole village knows he is a Jinchuriki, how is he treated?" The somber mood at which she asked the question darkened the mood.

Hiruzen's face hardened. "Despite my best efforts to keep him safe, he is treated the same as any Jinchuriki. He is hated. I made a law that forbids people to talk about him being a jinchuriki so that he could make friends his age. However, it seems that it didn't work. The older generation hates him and their children follow in their direction. They raise prices, beat him and send him away from almost everywhere he goes. After I had had enough with the orphanage, I got him his own apartment to live in to hope he would be safe there. Sadly, he is alone. It doesn't help that he doesn't know his parents either due to safety issues and as far as he knows, he is practically clan less."

Yugiri clenched her fists. "Nothing good seems to have come out of this Hokage-sama. Why didn't you visit us? He could have lived happily with his own people."

"He is not permitted to leave the village. He is the Konoha's Jinchuriki and losing him would disrupt the balance of power and may start another war. I could not do that."

Yugiri grit her teeth. "You could have at least called upon us. We could have been sent here to take care of him at least! He would have at least had a family to protect him!"

Hiruzen bowed his head in sadness and guilt. "I am sorry Yugiri, but I guess I was afraid how your clan would react to Kushina's death. The Uzumaki would probably have gotten angry."

"Well what do you think they would feel now?! The sole person destined to lead our clan is treated worse than a demon! What would Kushina think of this?! I have decided. We are going to be staying here hokage-sama. I want to watch over my nephew now."

"Uzumaki-san." Hiashi called, speaking for the first time during the whole encounter. "I have recently taken in Naruto as a guest into my clan grounds. He has been living with us for the past two days and seems to be settling in quite nicely. Since I am the clan head, nobody dares harm the boy or make him feel unwelcome. May I ask that you he stay with me so that his life can settle down?"

Yugiri studied the white eyed man in front of her. He seemed to genuinely care about Naruto. "Fine Hyuga-san, as long as we get to live not very far away from your grounds." Hiashi nodded and looked to Hiruzen who gave his consent.

"Yugiri-chan, how far educated are your children? I would like to know whether I should put them into the academy together with Naruto."

Yugiri thought about it for a minute. "The girls' Taijutsu is in good form, and are moderate in genjutsu. Ninjutsu and the three required techniques to graduate are a bigger problem as we sometimes cannot help overloading the jutsus. Arashi is, well, having trouble in all of them."

Arashi pouted upon hearing this while his sisters laughed. Hiruzen smiled. "Well then, the children can join Naruto in this year's class. You four escorts can be shown your new home by some of my ANBU after this meeting. Yugiri, please stay after they leave. I need to have a word. Cat, show the children the way to the academy after they clean up, their mother will pick them up after school." Hiruzen decided.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Cat answered bowing. "Follow me." She gestured to the children as she walked out of the office.

"Ghost, Dragon. Take the four bodyguards to the house in district seven. It should be only two blocks away from the Hyuga compound." Hiruzen ordered.

When there were only three people in the room, Hiashi stood up and walked over to stand next to the Hokage.

"And now Yugiri, I feel you should know about a few special changes regarding Naruto. He has obtained some unique abilities. And I think you should also know about our little Uchiha problem."

Yugiri raised an eyebrow and took a seat.

* * *

(Two Hours Later-Classroom)

Hinata was standing awkwardly next to Naruto. She was jealous, but she was far too shy to do anything about it.

"Come on Ino! What's wrong with you treating us to a barbecue joint?" Naruto asked, attempting to convince Ino.

Said girl had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the blonde boy. "I'm fine with going to the joint with you guys but why do I have to pay!" She complained sulking.

"Come on Ino, it's your turn after all. And if not a barbecue, then why not Ichiraku's?" Naruto added innocently, rubbing the back of his head.

"I agree with Naruto!" Chouji seconded his friend.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ino yelled. "Do you know how much you and Chouji eat?! I saved up this pocket money and I'm not spending it on one meal for you two!"

Naruto and Chouji pouted, unaware of what was going through Hinata's head. _'He's not asking her on a date. He's not asking her on a date. It can't be a date if it's with Shikamaru and Chouji can it? And Ino's paying. If it's a date it's only two people and the boy pays right? Right!?'_

At that moment a chorus of screams was heard as Sasuke walked in through the doors and Ino spun around and joined in. Naruto sighed. "Well, there goes our free lunch." Sasuke scowled and walked to his desk before covering his ears. The blonde boy almost pitied his friend. Almost. "Hey girls! Do you know what underwear Sasuke wears?" He yelled loudly.

Almost immediately, all the girls (minus Hinata) were staring at him with wide expectant eyes. Sasuke growled and before Naruto could open his mouth a hand was firmly clamped over it. "Naruto, that's a low blow." Sasuke growled in his ear. Naruto burst out laughing. "I know."

Everyone's attention was suddenly grabbed by a new boy who had leapt onto the wooden stand for the instructors. Everyone immediately noticed his spiky red hair and emerald green eyes gazing at the class before he yelled, "Oi! I am the strongest ninja here in this room 'ttebayo!"

The silence that followed was intense. The two red haired girls that had arrived with the boy face palmed for all to see. Sasuke's chuckle echoed across the silent room. "I think we have a new dobe in this room."

At the front of the room Arashi's grin faded and he set a hard look on his face. He was still looking for Naruto. The hokage had said they looked alike, but there were hardly any other redheads in the room. He shook his fist angrily at the one who had insulted him. "Oi, teme! What do you mean dobe?!"

Sasuke smirked. "That went well."

Naruto took his turn to laugh. "Oi! Red headed baka! You need to beat Sasuke here if you wanna be the best. And currently I am the closest one to beating him. And you look like a loser too 'ttebayo!"

Arashi's left eye twitched. "Are you mocking the way I talk? How dare you!"

Kaede looked up and immediately recognized the spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. "Um, Arashi I think that's…" but before she could finish Arashi growled, still on top of the teacher's box.

"Fine, I'll teach you a lesson!"

The class then watched as Arashi turned into a blur headed straight for Naruto.

Naruto unconsciously activated Tsuihogan the second he felt under threat and was able to watch the new red haired kid slowly running towards him. Naruto watched the arm pull back for a punch aimed at his face. 'Oh well' he thought, feeling the black chakra within him move towards his hand. He held it out in front of him to catch the fist.

The class gasped in shock and surprise when they felt the small shockwave from the impact. The new boy had shocked them by showing just how fast and powerful he was while Naruto simply surprised them. Naruto had been able to catch such a powerful attack and didn't even seem to feel it.

Naruto deactivated his doujutsu and studied the boy in front of him. He felt oddly like he was looking in a mirror. The only noticeable differences was the contrast of dark red and neon yellow and the emerald green eyes that stared deep into the cerulean blue.

After recovering from the surprise that someone had so effortlessly blocked his attack, Arashi also studied the blonde in front of him. 'Naruto?' He thought.

A chakra induced voice loudly called everyone's attention, and it sounded angry. "Naruto Uzumaki!" Mizuki snarled. "Getting into a fight with the new kid are you! Don't you have anything better to do?"

Arashi's suspicions were now confirmed. He was proud of his cousin, If Naruto could block his strikes that easily then it seemed he was doing well. Then he caught his cousin wince from the accusation before glaring at the instructor. Arashi felt anger spike within him. He vaguely recalled the Hokage mentioning bias and prejudice towards his cousin, and he didn't like it. Arashi spun around and shouted back at the teacher. "Oi, are you blind or what? If you were looking you would have seen me starting it!"

Mizuki turned his glare to the red head. "Watch your mouth boy, just because you are new here doesn't give you any special rights." Mizuki narrowed his glare even further, noting the similarities between both boys. "What is your name anyway?"

Arashi thumped his chest proudly, "I am Arashi Uzumaki!"

Naruto turned his head quizzically to the boy that had attacked him a moment ago. "Uzumaki?"

Arashi turned to face his blonde cousin. "Yeah, Uzumaki. Hello cousin."

Naruto was in shock, plain and simple, he had never, in his wildest dreams, ever thought that he would find any family. He was close to collapsing from shock before a steadying hand from Hinata helped keep him keeling over.

The two Uzumaki females couldn't help but smile at how happy Naruto seemed to look at finding his family.

Naruto looked at his male cousin and saw a familiar spark in his eyes, one that defined the person as a prankster. Likewise, Arashi saw the same kind of spark in his cousin's eyes.

The two male Uzumaki then grinned at each other before turning to face Mizuki in sync, grinning like foxes. Mizuki was a little unsettled by this and scowled back. The instructor wanted to glare but was torn between the two colours as both were equally unnerving.

Suddenly two girls each grabbed one of the boys by the ear. "Itai!Itai,Itai!" both boys cried out in pain.

"Behave boys, we don't wanna get in trouble now do we?" Akane asked sweetly.

Naruto gulped. "Eto, Arashi. Who are these two?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, yeah. They're your cousins as well; meet my sisters Kaede and Akane. Akane's the scary one holding your ear." Arashi clarified in an equally terrified voice.

"Oh no fair, why do I get the scary one?" Naruto whined. Akane's sweet face turned sour as her fist connected with Naruto's head.

"What did you call me?!" She asked sweetly again. Naruto clamped his mouth shut.

"Ok class settle down, that involves all of you Uzumaki." A new voice calmly rang out.

Naruto stood up and bowed respectfully, "Hai, Iruka-sensei." Naruto then took his place next o Hinata rubbing his head where Akane hit him.

Seeing their cousin's respect for the man, the three Uzumaki siblings followed suit.

"Due to our little, eventful morning, I think you are now aware of the newest additions to our class so we can skip introductions. We will continue our tests from yesterday to further affirm where all of you currently are. Same timetable, but this time we will do a little bit of Ninjutsu. Today, we start on Konoha's history."

The class groaned again and most prepared for another boring lecture. That was, until a small crash brought attention back to Arashi. Naruto bit back laughter at the familiar sight, only stopped by a slight pinch from Hinata to behave. "Was I that bad?" He asked innocently. The lavender eyed girl nodded before taking out her books, indicating for Naruto to do the same.

The crash had come from Arashi's forehead connecting with the table and the red haired boy seemed to have almost instantly fallen asleep and was now snoring soundly on his table.

At the front of the class Iruka sighed. Finally, when Naruto seemed to be finally pulling himself out of the gutter, the blonde's cousin instantly took his place as the class idiot.

It was going to be a _loooooooong_ year.

Throughout the lecture, Naruto simply wrote down everything that appeared on the board or heard what Iruka had to say. Even if he didn't know what was going on, he figured Hinata and Hitomi would help him understand it during their review time at home. Naruto stared incredulously at Arashi. If he was like that once then he had to remedy that issue as soon as possible. In other ways however, he liked his cousin. It wasn't everyday someone more loud, brash and stupid than yourself showed up anyway.

When the lecture ended, Naruto decided to try and bond with his cousin, and gathered Hinata, Kiba and Shino before setting after his red haired relatives.

"Class, before we all start training in our throwing, I would like to see our three new addition's skills in this particular field. Naruto, please come forward and demonstrate please."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei." Naruto walked forward to collect the kunai and shuriken.

Sakura raised her hand. "Sensei, why can't Sasuke-kun demonstrate? Why would you let the baka? Sasuke-kun is the best!"

Naruto glanced at his pink haired teammate and made a show of trying to clean his ears which brought on laughter from his peers. "Gah, Banshee couldn't have gotten a smaller mouth or a bigger brain." Naruto smirked.

A vein on Sakura's forehead became clearly visible, as her face contorted in fury.

"Woah, the big forehead is coming to life!" Ino teased. "Sasuke-kun won't like you now forehead" The blonde girl added, sticking her tongue out at her rival.

Sakura was fuming and now she didn't know who to direct her anger towards. Since Ino was much closer, she decided to try and throttle the girl. "Sakura, behave! Do you want disciplinary measures?" Mizuki snarled. The pink haired girl stopped to watch Naruto's throws, but not before sending a glare at Ino.

"Now hopefully there are no more issues for the rest of the period. Naruto, you may continue." Iruka clarified.

Naruto took a deep breath and watched the targets, slowly but surely and without alerting anyone, his eyes took a familiar orange tinge.

Kaede had been watching everyone in her new classroom, closely evaluating each one. She noticed that most of the people she would get along with were friends with her cousin. She especially seemed to like the fact that the Hyuga girl was one of the only ones that wasn't fan girling over Sasuke the other being the girl with her hair in two buns. Kaede liked the Hyuga more however, as the girl seemed close to her cousin, she just wasn't sure how close. The redheaded girl had also been watching Naruto specifically ever since she first saw him.

In the time it took for them to get to school, Kaede had already managed to unearth most incidents involving her blond cousin. She was angered at how many times he had been transferred, punished, and hospitalized and at such a young age. Shop records also indicated high prices at whatever Naruto had ever bought compared to sales. He had had a terrible life. But seeing him right now he seemed somewhat happy with what few friends he had and she was happy for him.

That happiness turned into shock when she watched Naruto's display of accuracy and skill with thrown weapons. And she wasn't the only one. Even if the rest of the class had seen his ability, it was still hard to believe.

Iruka managed to get out of his stupor first and went back into teacher mode. "That was a brilliant display Naruto. Now, can you share with the class your technique?"

Naruto turned and grinned sheepishly at Iruka while rubbing the back of his head. "Eto, sensei. I don't know really know how."

Mizuki's jaw dropped. "What? How is it possible?" He asked curiously. The demon brat was getting better.

"I don't know. I kinda just throw it you know."

Arashi looked up and felt a challenge. If his cousin could do it he could. "Oi, sensei! Give me kunai, I can do better than that!" He declared proudly.

Naruto caught the two Uzumaki sisters face palm and wondered why, his attention snapped back to Arashi as Naruto stood back in line.

Arashi felt all eyes on him and felt good. _'Yes, now they'll see some skill! A good first impression is important!'_ With a deep breath, Arashi launched the all the kunai at once and everyone gasped.

Mizuki was watching Arashi intently with his arms crossed. What would this boy be like? Hopefully average. Mizuki got his answer in the form of six kunai headed his way, all locked in on his position. Mizuki cursed and took out his own kunai to desperately deflect the oncoming danger. The boy was worse than Naruto had ever been, that was for sure. Mizuki confirmed this fact as he had been standing over thirty feet away from the target. If not for the other wayward projectiles, the instructor could have sworn the red head had been aiming at him. But he wasn't the only one incredulous at the boy's apparent lack of skill.

Iruka was standing a good distance directly behind Arashi. His shock was multiplied as two kunai were headed straight for his face and he only barely managed to get the clipboard up in front. The two kunai had embedded themselves into the thick, wooden clipboard. He lowered it and gasped at the range that the single throw had covered.

Hinata had covered her eyes when she saw the kunai headed for her and was silently counting down for the kunai to hit. Even if they were blunt, they still hurt a lot. After five seconds of waiting, she peeked out and stared right at point of the weapon and she drew a sharp intake of breath. She relaxed when saw that Naruto had managed to catch the weapon just before it hit her face and thanked Kami he had managed to catch it.

Akane was pissed. She marched toward her brother and slapped his head powerfully enough to send him tumbling. "Baka! Are you trying to kill us!?" she yelled.

"At least nobody got hurt!" Arashi countered leaping to his feet.

Iruka managed to step in before things got out of hand. "Ok, class. We can practice weapons usage next week. Arashi, try to train at home with that for now. Moving on to Taijutsu sparring. Arashi, you will be partnered with Naruto. Kaede, Ino. Akane, Sakura. After these matches we will aid you as required." The scar faced chunin watched the cousins draw and face each other, smirking. _'This is going to be interesting,'_ he thought. "Begin!"

The moment he got the signal, Naruto activated Tsuihogan, but without yelling its name. In his orange field of vision, he noted that Arashi had no particular stance whatever and was rushing him, possibly goading Naruto into a slugfest. Naruto figured Arashi was more of a brawler just like he was. While studying his cousin however, he noticed that he could predict the strength of the punch as well as the speed and where it would hit. That was useful. Naruto decided to see just how strong the punches were and rushed the black chakra to strengthen and reinforce his arms. He raised his forearms and braced for impact.

Everyone watched as Arashi almost turned into a blur, covering the distance between him and Naruto within seconds. The next thing they noticed was the large impact from when the fist connected with Naruto's forearms. While both boys seemed unaffected, the shockwave of displaced air forced a cloud of dust and dirt strongly away from the two combatants.

Arashi smirked at his cousin who smirked back. "You're strong cousin, I guess I'll have to go hard on you."

His confident grin was matched by Naruto. "By all mean cousin, by all means."

Arashi pulled his fist back and launched a kick at Naruto's chest. Naruto had decided that he would try and tire out his cousin by blocking his hits and trying to counter instead of dodging since he could take the hits anyway. Arashi began speeding up his kicks and punches always to be blocked by one or both of Naruto's hands. This was new. Mostly other Uzumaki had difficulty keeping up with Arashi's speed. It was the reason he hadn't taken up a Taijutsu style as he speed and randomness were usually more than enough to disorient and overpower his opponent. But the blonde haired kid in front of him right now was blocking them with next to no effort. It was only luck that Naruto hadn't countered yet.

Naruto was enjoying himself. His opponent was a great brawler. There was the speed, strength and dangerous unpredictability. Too bad he could see very move clearly and in slow motion. The blonde was completely sure where every hit would go and he seemed to have ten whole seconds to think about a block when in the real world they could hardly even keep track of what was going on.

The audience of academy students were awed. If the small shockwaves produced from every hit were an indicator of how much power was being used. They could also hardly see the combatants and could only vaguely tell where they were because of the orange blur. Added to that there were around three shockwaves a second.

Back in the fight Arashi was getting frustrated. There was also the issue of that constant grin on Naruto's face that was simply infuriating. He started to add more power into his punches and increased his speed but all his hits felt like they were slamming into solid rock. That was also new. "Let's finish this already!" Arashi yelled in frustration.

"As you wish." Naruto mocked. The blonde ducked under the next punch and sidestepped the following kick and landed a vicious right hook to Arashi's lower jaw, knocking him out. Naruto stood over his cousin's prone body and slapped him awake. Arashi groaned. "Well that was embarrassing."

All of Naruto's friends were happy for him. If he could get this good so quickly then they should be able to as well.

Neji was confused. _'He dares to defy fate? We shall see. He will experience pain,'_ He thought darkly.

Mizuki was seething. Even though he hated to admit it, the demon boy was powerful and skilled. As a teacher, the Naruto would have been an honour to teach and it would be nice to see him go and do great things. But that was the problem. A direct order from the civilian council gave him the right to try and disrupt the boy's education. But then again, if this boy was good now, how much better would he be later on? He would be even more useful. Mizuki decided to aid the boy and act like a good teacher from now on. That way when the time came, he could fool Naruto into doing his dirty work. The possibilities kept rolling in and Mizuki smiled. It wouldn't hurt to help Naruto advance now would it?

"Great match. At least we now know Arashi and Naruto have Taijutsu as a strong point. Next, Sakura and Akane."

"Cha Sasuke-kun! I can now show you I'm the best!" Sakura yelled, punching the air excitedly.

Naruto face palmed. "Didn't she say that yesterday against Hinata-chan?"

Kiba groaned. "Get used to it." He mumbled.

Akane overheard them. After studying her opponent a little, Akane decided that she could end this quickly. Checking up on Sakura Haruno's records had been weird. The Uzumaki placed her into the book worm category with no physical skills. And from what she saw of the pinkette, the girl was dieting and using tons of beauty products, no doubt trying to get the attention of the Uchiha. For Akane, this level of stupidity was new.

"Why do you like the Uchiha anyway?" Akane asked sounding bored with her arms crossed.

Sakura immediately went on the defensive. "The Uchiha has a name! It's Sasuke-kun! And everybody likes Sasuke!"

Akane scoffed. "We don't all like him. I know I don't."

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun." Sakura growled, with her voice low and clenching her fists.

Akane raised a mocking eyebrow. "Or what? Gonna punish me? By the way last I looked, Sasuke doesn't even like you."

Sakura glared back. "Of course he does! I am top kunoichi in our class! There's no girl smarter than me here!" Sakura countered.

In the back of the crowd, Kaede sneezed.

"Being a book worm? Do you even know what it means to be a ninja? You have to fight. Where will all your fancy ideas go if your body doesn't even know how to use them? You need to train hard physically. If it's still not enough then train harder and harder. If you work hard enough, you will get what you want."

In the crowd, everyone noticed Lee step forward, admiration in his eyes.

"Enough. I've had it with you!" Sakura didn't wait for a begin signal and charged the Uzumaki that had her arms still crossed.

Akane leaned a little to her right to avoid the jab Sakura sent her before counter attacking by slapping the pink haired girls face. The echo resounded across the silent playground. Sakura held her cheek in shock for a moment but quickly forgot about the sting and turned back to trying to pummel Akane. The red head ducked under two more punches and sidestepped a forward kick. Sakura's other foot then came flying high up in a roundhouse kick. Akane ducked and swiped Sakura's out from under her so that the girl was free falling onto her back. Akane then stood up and drove her heel into Sakura's stomach, accelerating her short fall to the ground where she stayed.

Iruka didn't know what to think about Sakura. What Akane had said was true, but maybe beating it into the girl wasn't such a great idea.

After the fight Lee ran straight up to the victor. "What a youthful fight. You also burn with the flames of youth and believe in the essence of hard work! Gai sensei would love you as a student. Now please spar with me beautiful lady. If I lose then I shall go run five times around Konoha!" lee exclaimed bowing.

Akane took in the boy before her. He was wearing black shorts and a red shirt with brown sandals. She studied his face carefully after he stood back up and took in the round eyes and the large eyebrows that stared back at her. Along with his shiny, black bowler cut, Akane found him intriguing. She also remembered reading about Lee Rock, the boy who only used Taijutsu but was doing well enough to stay in the academy. That spoke of great determination. She began to realize that she was admiring the boy for his accomplishments. When he tilted his head, Akane realized that he was waiting for an answer.

"Hai, and if you lose then I shall join you 'ttebayo!" Akane declared enthusiastically.

"Such youthful spirit! I wish for you to meet Gai sensei in the near future! Now come, let us begin over there. I believe your sister will have her fight here."

Akane could have sworn he was about to start crying in the beginning before a fire lighted in his eyes, literally. She found this hilarious and told the boy to follow her and made sure he kept up.

After the two left the field for their own spar, Iruka had already propped Sakura up against a tree and called the next fight between Kaede and Ino. For some reason, Shikamaru felt compelled to observe this fight and popped a lazy eye open.

Kaede slowly made her way to the fight and stared at Ino lazily. "Hurry up, I don't want this to take too long."

As soon as the match started Kaede realized that Ino was much better than Sakura at fights. She resorted to dodging as it seemed like the task which required least energy, she didn't want to go head to head. Dodging Ino's attacks was a fairly simple task. Kaede just had to either step to the side or duck. After five minutes Ino still didn't show signs of tiring or letting up.

"This is troublesome 'ttebayo." Kaede commented.

Chouji nudged Shikamaru whose normally lazy eyes had widened. This new girl seemed intriguing. He raised himself from his spot on a log at sat down with his arms crossed, watching more closely.

"Hey Ino! That new girl said she can take Sasuke whenever he wants." Kiba yelled.

Kaede sighed when Ino's eyes hardened and began attacking more ferociously than before while Kiba dropped on the ground laughing while being scolded by Hinata.

"What a drag. I said I didn't want to get tired." Kaede grumbled. She caught Ino's next punch and hauled the blonde girl towards her. When Ino was close enough Kaede lifted a knew which connected with Ino's stomach. Ino dropped directly after and Iruka ended the match.

Kaede walked over to a tree alone and unsealed a scroll to start reading. She was a little lost in her own world, but she noticed enough about her surroundings to notice the pineapple haired boy that lay down on the grass next to her to gaze up at the sky and the clouds. Normally, Kaede felt uncomfortable when anyone was near her while she read. But for some reason, she felt at ease with the boy currently next to her. And if appearances were anything to go by, he seemed comfortable around her as well. They sat together in peaceful silence for quite some time, vaguely registering the remaining fights.

After a while Shikamaru turned away from the clouds to look at the red head next to him. He simply gazed into her emerald green eyes darting back and forth while reading and he got caught in a trance watching them. Kaede noticed this development and felt a blush slowly rising. This was definitely new. She returned the look the boy was giving her after a little bit of gazing, the boy made an offer.

"Care for a game of Shogi?" Shikamaru propped himself up on one elbow to speak to her directly.

Kaede smirked. "Are you any good?"

Shikamaru smirked back. "I'm a Nara."

Kaede unsealed a board from a scroll. "Figures."

Shikamaru chuckled and sat opposing her as they started the game.

Later on, Iruka was testing the students with the three required jutsu for them to pass: Henge, Kawarimi and Bunshin. The teacher had gotten quite a shock when Naruto, Sasuke and Arashi had decided to perform an Oiroke no jutsu at practically the same time. His reaction had been priceless for the students as he had promptly fainted with blood trailing down his nose. During the Kawarimi, Naruto had somehow managed to substitute himself with Anko's dango plate and had blamed it on Iruka ordering him to do so. The irate woman had then sadistically tortured the scar-faced chunin with snakes before deciding that he was boring. The most interesting event however, was the Bunshin.

"Naruto, your turn."

"Bunshin no jutsu." Naruto was pleased when he smoke cleared and a perfect copy of him was produced. Then the clone rounded on him and punched him.

"Oi teme! What was that for!?" Naruto shot back up to his feet angrily and faced the clone who by now had its arm crossed and was grinning smugly at the original.

"I don't know boss, I just felt like it."

"You. You felt like it! I made you so you follow my rules. You won't hit me. If you do that again then I'll never make a Bunshin again!"

The clone lost its grin and began pleading. "Yes boss! Sorry boss, won't happen again 'ttebayo! Promise! And we never go back on our word! Right boss?"

Naruto gave the clone a once over and let it stand up, before shaking its hand. "Welcome to the Naruto corps."

The clone chuckled before it noticed Mizuki's interested face. "What's wrong Mizuki, got something on my face?" The clone asked angrily.

Both the original and the clone were surprised when the jibe didn't get the intended reaction. Instead it seemed to make Mizuki even more curious. "Naruto, did you know that clones don't have their own self consciousness?"

"Eh?" Both Narutos looked at him in confusion and tilted their head to the right, almost in sync."

"Normally clones are made and they follow one order for a while, but no simple clone is able to think on its own, separate from its real owner's thoughts. I think you have accidentally made a kage bunshin, Naruto."

Both orange-clad boys were looking at him strangely. "Are you really Mizuki?"

"Of course I am. Why?"

"I thought you hated the boss and now you're actually teaching us." The clone said coldly.

Mizuki smiled a warm smile for the first time in a long while. "Well, I've had a talk with Iruka and I just have to say, I'm sorry." Mizuki smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head much like Naruto. "From now on I promise to help train you properly. All I ask is a little more respect as a sensei, and if I like your progress, I'll treat you to ramen."

Both Naruto's lightened up and grinned before the original held out his hand. "It's a deal Mizuki-sensei, we can start from scratch."

"Yes, we can." Mizuki answered and shook the boy's outstretched hand. He felt a little flutter in his stomach when he saw the boy's happy grin. 'No.' He thought. 'I don't feel anything for you; this is all just part of my plan.' But Mizuki couldn't shake the feeling of right that was nagging at the back of his head.

"Naruto, kage bunshins are a jonin level technique and are very risky to use as they half the user's chakra. Kakashi Hatake uses them in fights to test his opponents abilities first as they can think independently and fight. Once they get hit and dispelled the information returns to the owner. Speaking of which, how durable is that clone? Normally only a slight hit is enough to dispel it."

Naruto was more than happy to finally receive information from Mizuki voluntarily. The man also seemed genuine to Naruto so he would listen to him. "Hm, let me see." And with that Naruto launched a powerful punch at the clone's face and his fist connected. Surprisingly though, the clone didn't even budge. Naruto immediately realized that his clone could also use his black chakra armour and possibly Tsuihogan as well. Mizuki however, did not know that. He was simply amazed at the durability of the clone and punched it himself just to be sure. He hurt his knuckles in doing so while the clone smirked at him.

"Neh, Mizuki sensei. Let's play a game. Turn around and then try and guess the original one." The clone challenged smugly.

Mizuki laughed. "Fine, just a minute. Iruka! Get over here; me and Naruto have a test for you!" Mizuki called.

The other students watched in awe at the advanced clone that the senseis had taken an interest to and were simply watched to gather what information that they could about it.

Naruto didn't know whether to be annoyed or pleased that Iruka could not tell the real him from the clone. Annoyed because Iruka didn't really know him, or pleased that his clone was just like him. Either way the look on Iruka's face when he couldn't dispel either clone was priceless. Mizuki had won the bet and now Iruka would be treating both him and Naruto to an establishment of Naruto's choice.

The eventful academy day ended a little bit later with everyone parting ways. Naruto bade farewell to his cousins and friends at the training field before turning to Sasuke. "Still up for it duck butt?"

"You bet I am whisker boy."

The two friends chuckled and leapt over the wall.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

The woman stood at the doors of the chambers and took one last look at all the frightened people inside. "Kenshi, you are in charge here. Once this door is sealed it can only be opened from the inside. You will need that ring I gave you, it will only glow when I send my chakra to my ring and I am on the other side of the door."

The man nodded. "Take care Mikoto-sama. Hopefully Konoha will live through this."

Mikoto Uchiha nodded. "If this door is somehow opened by another Uchiha, tell them I captured you and forced you all into here. Understood? Tonight, The Uchiha stupidity will fall. My husband has called this upon himself."

With those parting words, Mikoto shut the seal that protected all the innocents of her clan, this way none of them would be caught up in the crossfire that was sure to happen later that night. The only ones she could not immediately bring to safety were Shisui and Itachi, but they were both ANBU so there was no issue there. The real problem was Sasuke, he was at the academy unprotected. Hopefully she would have time to get him out of there and prevent him from returning home after her meeting with the hokage. Mikoto had overheard all the plans of her husband Fugaku Uchiha to take over and how he would do so. The operation would have been set in three days, she was hoping Hiruzen would be ready to do something before the Uchiha were ready as she made her way to his office. She, Shisui and Itachi together were powerful, but against the entire part of their clan that had activated their sharingan? No way. Even Kushina wouldn't be stupid enough to try and overcome such odds. Then again maybe not. Mikoto smiled at the thought.

* * *

(At the Hokage's Office)

Fortunately when Mikoto had arrived, the three elders of the Hokage were in a meeting with him. At first she had been denied entry but she demanded that they let her in and it was about the Uchiha. When the two ANBU did not budge, Mikoto's sharingan flared.

"If anything drastic happens to the village tonight I will be sure to explain that it was because you two did not allow me to give my warning too Hokage-sama. I am sure you are aware of the gravity regarding the Uchiha clan situation." Mikoto stated in a cold voice. A brief image of Kushina punching the man through the wall angrily crossed her mind.

The two ANBU looked unsure but decided to see whether they could interrupt the meeting for a while. They knocked on the door gently and waited for an answer.

A few minutes later, the wife of the Uchiha clan head faced the hokage and his three elders.

Danzo started the conversation. "Mikoto-san. Why have you come to see us?" He asked suspiciously.

"I know about Itachi and Shisui's plans against the clan. I am here to aid you with information."

"How can you prove your trustworthiness?" Homura scrutinized the lady. "Are you not the Fugaku's wife?"

"I am his wife I admit. But I am not part of the plan. Shisui and Itachi have already told you that there are innocents amongst the clan, did they not?"

Homura nodded.

"I have brought all those who are not involved to a safe place and they will remain safe as now, only Itachi, Shisui and I know of its location. I know that Itachi and Shisui have been attending meetings and trying to grab the information they could, but I believe I know much more. I alone have access to Fugaku's office and all his paperwork. Added to this, I overheard a meeting with the main players involved in this coup. They are preparing seals all around the village which will allow them to teleport into all of the other clans' compounds at night and massacre the opposition. I must warn you that they will strike in three days, midnight, which is why I request for you to lead an early strike against them tonight." Mikoto informed.

Danzo's eyes narrowed. "You are certain this information is true, you may be leading us into a trap and you are his wife afterall."

Mikoto glared at the man and scoffed. "You and I both know I have no feelings for the man. My parents never allowed me to marry outside the clan and so an arranged marriage to the future clan head was immediately arranged. I have fulfilled my duty as a wife and mother to his children, but this is going too far, Konohagakure is under threat from his ambitions. Do you suggest I allow that to happen?!" Mikoto crossed her arms defiantly and took deep breaths to try and regain her calm. "I do not care for those left in the compound. They should get what they deserve. I have already moved everyone innocent and not involved in this coup. I suggest you strike tonight, for when they find out that over half the clan is missing, they may launch their attack even without being fully prepared."

Danzo nodded, accepting the information he had received. One look at the others already told him that they accepted the hard fact that the Uchiha were not to be trusted, except (of course) for Hiruzen.

The Sandaime tiredly put his hands in his palms and sighed. "Is there really no way we can avoid this crisis by peaceful means?"

Danzo glared at his old friend. "Hiruzen, we have already spoken about this. You have offered them your hand of kindness for far too long. It is time to do what is best for Konoha."

Koharu patted Hiruzen's back comfortingly. "It is a harsh time my friend, but it is either the village or these demented men. You know what we have to do."

The Hokage groaned and looked up." Very well then, Danzo, summon your ROOT. They will join together with the full force of my ANBU. After that we should just wait for Itachi and Shisui to return then we shall launch our attack, summon the forces the other clan heads have prepared."

Almost as if on cue the two Uchiha shunshined into the room in a swirl of leaves with one knee already on the floor and bowing urgently. "Hokage-sama! We have a problem!"

* * *

(Flashback)

Itachi and Shisui had henged themselves into small twig on a tree branch near Fugaku's window. Any sharingan would have easily seen through the henge, but with both ANBU suppressing their chakra so much, they were practically invisible. They had only recently found this spot before the meeting started and were now listening intently to the angry conversation taking place inside.

"Fugaku! This is serious! The other clan members are missing! Including Mikoto-sama!" A worried Uchiha elder pointed out.

Fugaku growled. "I could not care less for her. Have you not noticed yet? Everyone not included in the coup is missing. Mikoto is the only other one besides Itachi and Shisui who has the sharingan. Knowing her, she probably learned of this coup from our carelessness and has joined the other two pests in interfering. We cannot wait three more days, by then our element of surprise shall be gone."

"Fugaku-sama! We are not prepared, taking on all of Konoha now is suicide!" One countered.

"This is foolhardy Fugaku." Another Uchiha added.

"With Shisui and Itachi already spying on us, the Hokage knows about this. The old man was probably expecting a list of all those not involved, he was always too soft in matters such as these. Peace is nothing but an illusion. When I am Hokage, Konoha will no longer be weak under his rule and we Uchiha will finally get the respect that we deserve. Now gather the men, we shall strike before they do and bring that administration down. We will make our move in an hour!" Fugaku ordered.

"Hai!" The men answered in unison and ran off to inform their fellow conspirators and leave the room. Once Fugaku left the room and shut his door, the two Uchiha spies transformed back into their human forms to stare at each other in shock and fear. He two immediately vanished in swirls of leaves.

* * *

(Flashback End)

Hiruzen growled and threw off his coat and cape, leaving him in his black battle gear as he summoned his regular staff that he used when he wasn't using Enma. "Bear! Crow! Summon the ANBU right this instant! Code Red, I repeat, Code Red!"

Danzo was just as restless as his friend and was barking orders at his own men. "Fuu, Torune. Gather the ANBU. Mission Code: Leaf Cleansing."

All said agents vanished in a swirl of leaves, realizing the urgency of the situation.

Koharu turned to another ANBU. "Do not forget the other clan heads, warn them immediately."

When all the ANBU had departed leaving them alone all eyes turned to a frightened Mikoto. "I-I-I N-need to get Sa-Sasuke! I left him at the academy and couldn't bring him anywhere safe!"

Itachi looked at his mother in worry. "Ka-san, the academy closed down two hours ago! He might already be in the compound!"

Hiruzen stared at the worried Uchihas. "Mikoto, go find him now but do not go anywhere near the camp. If he is there then his father may not hurt him. I will give out an order not to harm any children in our attack."

Mikoto nodded with wide eyes and dashed out of the room.

"Itachi, Shisui. I am sorry but we need you two in the attack. Mikoto will find him, don't worry."

Itachi managed to nod and follow his hokage out of the room.

* * *

(In the Hyuga Compound)

The entire group of visiting Uzumaki had decided to stop by at the Hyuga compound with Yugiri especially excited to meet her nephew. She was disappointed to find out that he had gone out with a classmate to presumably play.

The eight of them were all sitting together in a room along with Hinata, Hitomi and Hiashi who were busy entertaining their guests.

"Ka-san! Naruto was awesome! I think he's stronger and faster than Arashi! But he is DEFINITELY better than this baka at throwing things." Akane reported excitedly to her mother.

Arashi bristled. "So what? I admit he is much better than me but I am better in, mmm, wait. Lemme think."

Kaede chuckled. "I doubt it's in looks. That spiky blonde hair and those cool blue eyes are definitely a better combination than red and green, even if you two almost look alike. He's dreamy."

Akane pretended to swoon. "Yup, if he wasn't my cousin I'd definitely be crushing on him!"

The taunting girls failed to notice Hinata sinking lower into her chair, burning red.

"That's right! I'm probably way better than him in pranks! What has he done so far anyway?" Arashi asked quizzically.

The visitors all collectively turned to Hiashi who had gone pale at the mention of pranks. "He has done enough to warrant the title of most recognized prankster Konoha has ever seen. You guys don't do pranks, do you?" Hiashi began dreading the answer as three childish but evil grins made their way to his face.

"I think I would like us to try and surpass what he has accomplished, ne Kaede, Akane?" Arashi was now grinning at all the prospects. This was the best possible cousin.

Hiashi gulped and paled further. "No, when was one Kushina not enough?"

The laughter was brought to a stop when a masked ANBU burst in through the door. "Hiashi-sama! Code red! Gather in front of the compound in fifteen minutes. We should halt their attack due in thirty!"

The Hyuga clan head leapt to his feet. "Misashi!" He yelled to a man waiting outside his room. "Inform the squad I prepared immediately! Operation Red will start immediately." He ordered. "Hitomi, you stay here with the children, Yugiri-san, I believe you agreed to assist."

Yugiri finally grasped what was going on and her face hardened."Uchiha."

Hinata glanced up. "Uchiha? What's wrong with Sasuke's family?"

Yugiri felt like she had been slapped. "Sasuke's an Uchiha?"

"Yes."

She turned to Hiashi. "Is he involved?"

"As far as I know, he is not. But they will probably head back to the compound as soon as the sun starts setting." Hiashi mentally cursed. "Hopefully they do not end up in the middle of the fight."

The ANBU interrupted. "We have been ordered not to harm any boys that we encounter."

The four other adult Uzumaki recognized the danger to their only heir. "Yugiri-sama. We must leave right away. Naruto is far too important."

Yugiri nodded and pointed to the ANBU. "You. Take us there now!"

The ANBU flinched and quickly did what he had been ordered to do.

Hiashi finished gathering his squad minutes later and followed The Uzumaki's trail. "Please Naruto, don't be anywhere near there, not this time." He prayed silently to Kami.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

"Naruto that was awesome!" Sasuke yelled excitedly at his friend as they walked down the empty Konoha streets. It had come to the boys' attention but since both had no one to ask, they dropped the issue. "Is it a Kekkai Genkai like my Sharingan?"

Naruto grinned back. "I know right! I don't think it's a kekkai genkai though, I'll have to ask my cousins."

After school, Naruto had taken Sasuke deep into the forests and had revealed his newfound powers to Sasuke. At first Sasuke had been shocked but nodded in understanding when Naruto explained his Tsuihogan and Sasuke commented on how it was eerily similar to his clan's sharingan.

Then came the revelation of the hardened skin which Sasuke found intriguing. It wasn't everday someone asked you to try and scratch you with a kunai. After a little spar, Naruto had started taking off his clothes and Sasuke had turned red. His father had warned him about this. That some boys may show affections towards him.

"Eto, turn around for a minute Sasuke."

The blushing red boy had complied instantly. Thinking along the lines of, 'No Naruto, I don't see you that way!' Sasuke had then been snapped out of his thoughts by a metallic whirring voice and nearly had a heart attack when he turned around to see Naruto in his Bumblebee form. The explanation about not wanting to rip his own clothes again was good enough.

"Neh, Sasuke. You'll keep it a secret right?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"About what? The part where you took of your clothes to show me something?" Sasuke smirked, crossing his arms smugly.

"N-No! Why would you even do that!?" Naruto yelled back, shaking his fist while blushing violently. "Just don't tell Hinata-chan."

Sasuke's smirk grew bigger. "Now I know just who to tell!"

Naruto face palmed and before pouting. "Great, now what am I gonna do?"

"Well, you can start by changing that orange jumpsuit. Oh wait, don't change here dobe."

"Sasuke!"

The good natured banter carried on for a good thirty minutes until they reached Sasuke's secret way to get into the compound: a small tunnel near the back that led straight under their wall.

* * *

(Uchiha Compound)

"Right, now that everyone is gathered. Let's go claim Konoha!" Fugaku shouted to all of his men.

"Not so fast, Fugaku." Hiruzen warned.

The walls of their compound were littered with ANBU, patiently waiting for the order to strike.

"So you knew then, old fool." Fugaku grinned. "Let the fun begin!"

Upon their clan head's order the traitorous Uchiha all drew in a deep breath. "Katon: Goukakyou no jutsu!" They yelled in unison as large fireballs shot out of their mouths towards the walls.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!" Some of the ANBU yelled to counter the attack. The influx of water cancelled out the massive wave of oncoming fire. Then both sides charged to meet each other head on.

* * *

(With Naruto)

Naruto had a bad feeling in his gut. And it wasn't the type he got after drinking from a carton of expired milk. Something bad was going to happen. The blonde looked back towards where Sasuke had disappeared. Would it hurt to follow him just to be sure?

* * *

Sasuke had had a great day. He was smiling to himself as he exited the tunnel. Due to his joy he didn't notice the eerie silence and absence of people until he heard a jutsu being called before another one. The noise of the hiss of steam being formed from water meeting fire was unmistakable. _'Training?'_ He immediately thought. _'Wait, we don't have any water users in the clan. And tou-san doesn't even allow anyone here.'_

The sight he saw before him would have been amazing, if it wasn't for the fact that his clan seemed to be under attack, by Konoha ANBU! The young Uchiha gaped at the scene, struggling to make sense of what was going on. Suiton and Katon jutsus as well as some Doton were being thrown around all over the place. Wait, was that Mokuton? (Wood Release)In the battle there were Hyugas, Inuzukas as well as the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, all attacking the Uchiha. This was some sort of joke, why would Konoha want to attack its strongest clan.

He was snapped out of his trance when an ANBU landed directly in front of him. Sasuke involuntarily flinched and took a step back. The agent remembered his orders that he shouldn't hurt any young boy that came his way. "Come kid, we need to get you to safety." The masked man offered his hand.

The frightened boy whimpered. "Why are you doing this? What did we do to you!?"

The ANBU sighed. "I'll explain later I promise, but now we need to get you out of danger."

Sasuke saw the sense in that statement and decided to trust the man. He grabbed the masked man's hand and let himself be led to safety. Getting out of danger seemed to be a good idea. Until of course, to his horror, said man was impaled through the chest by a blade crackling with lightning. Sasuke resisted the urge to scream as he watched the masked man's body tumble down.

"So you are with your mother and Itachi then, aren't you Sasuke?" Fugaku stated calmly.

Sasuke looked from the body to his father and back again. "You killed him tou-san! Why!?"

Fugaku gave a laugh that chilled Sasuke to the bone. He didn't recognize the man anymore. Gone was the stern but caring father he had always lived with. In his place, a madman stood laughing hysterically.

"Why?" The Uchiha clan head snickered. "Mikoto, Itachi and now you betray me. Then you ask me why I kill?"

"Tou-san w-what? B-betray? Ka-san? W-when?" Sasuke's spine was tingling as he looked at the man before him.

"The Uchiha are the greatest! We deserve the power to rule! We are at the top!" Fugaku yelled. "You all turned your back on this greatness for what? Konoha? This place isn't worth it. They fear power. In that fear they continue to put us down. But now, now they will know the power of the Uchiha!" The clan head then stared at Sasuke. "But you won't be there to see it. First of all, you have betrayed me. How much will your death destroy your mother however?"

Sasuke had now taken a step back in shock. No. His father wouldn't kill his own son would he? He saw the look in those deranged red eyes of his father's sharingan that the answer to his question was yes. Before he closed his eyes, he watched as the sharp sword glinted I the moonlight, crackling with blue lightning coursing through it.

 **Clang!**

Sasuke opened his eyes when he heard that sound. He took in his father's sword, still crackling with power, stopped by something yellow. Strong enough to counter the lightning charged sword. He followed what looked to be a mechanical yellow arm to the body. Wait. There was only one possible being with this power and he had seen it in action less than an hour before. "Naruto!"

"Tsuihogan!"

Fugaku studied the thing in front of him closely. There seemed to be no chakra emanating or powering it, but with how fast it had moved and the fact that it also had a doujutsu led him to believe that this was a powerful opponent. He noticed that his lightning sword had only managed to scrath the yellow armour, but that was already quickly repairing itself. He stared into the orange eyes of his opponent. "Hello demon brat. It seems you are starting to embrace what you really are." He mocked.

Naruto scoffed. "Ha, I'm the demon?" He shook his head chuckling. "I don't see a worse demon than a man trying to kill his own son!" Naruto shouted back in his whirring, robotic voice.

"I will still kill him." Fugaku stated matter of factly. "And there is nothing you can do about it. Last I looked you were 'dead last' in your class. What hope do you have?"

"I don't need hope to beat you 'ttebayo! If you wanna kill Sasuke then go through me lunatic." Naruto taunted getting into a fighting stance.

"Insolent fool. You think you can beat the Sharingan?"

Naruto looked confused. "Eh? I said I would beat YOU. I don't remember saying anything about the sharingan. Sheesh, you're making up stuff old man."

Fugaku roared and launched himself at Naruto full speed. What he didn't expect was for Naruto to easily sidestep and slap him hard enough to sending flying. He had let his guard down and he paid a heavy price. A normal slap would have hurt enough, but add a very dense metal and inhuman strength to the slap and you get a hurt Uchiha clan head who is out for blood. Even if the sharingan saw the hit coming, he was not fast enough to do anything about it.

The clan head rushed back into battle again, but this time treating his yellow armoured opponent as a sharingan user. To his surprise he discovered that the machine was keeping up. It dodged under a hook and attempted to sweep the clan head's feet out from under him. Fugaku leapt up and over the kick and narrowly avoided a vicious uppercut to the chin. The attack still managed to graze his cheek though and it hurt. He swung his sword arm and watched to robot raise it's arm to receive the blow. All he managed to achieve was a slight groove in the metal that was already quickly returning back to its original state. He moved his head to the left to avoid a powerful jab only to receive a knee in the side and he decided to take that as a warning and he backflipped to put some distance between himself and his opponent.

Fugaku studied him again. That doujutsu of his could keep up with the sharingan, and now he was sure it would be useless to just go in and try to slash, that armour didn't seem to be affected by the sword and repaired itself quickly. How would it fare against Ninjutsu however? He was experienced enough in the following move so that he did not require hand seals to perform it. "Katon: Goukakyou no jutsu!"

His technique was much more powerful than any of his clan members due to its large size and concentrated heat. The Uchiha smiled when the blonde stood his ground awaiting the fireball. His smile died down when the robot walked through. The armour was charred black from some soot as a result of the fire jutsu but other than that, the boy seemed fine and was walking slowly towards him. "Katon: Kasai Sasori no jutsu!" (Fire Release: Fire Scorpion) The flames grew to three times the size of Fugaku's body before concentrating itself into what looked like a scorpion's stinger. Soon almost all the fire was focused on a point as big as Fugaku's finger. He launched the compressed mass of fire and it impacted Naruto head on in the chest. It knocked him a step back with a small dent in his armour, which quickly repaired itself.

Fugaku frowned, this was not going well. He had to have some sort of weakness. Some sort of place that the armour wasn't quite covering. Aha! There it was. The space where his elbow was. Instead of yellow, it was full of gray wires. Time to give it a test run.

He charged Naruto again, only this time he stared attacking Naruto's armoured head. The academy student raised his arm to intercept three rapid strikes in quick succession without realizing that this was his opponent's intentions.

Fugaku smirked triumphantly when Naruto left that little spot for his elbow free. The sword's point found itself lodged onto the inside of Naruto's elbow, running up his arm. Fugaku laughed sadistically when he poured lightning chakra into the sword, forcing Naruto to scream in a high-pitched wail. Fugaku Kicked Naruto down while keeping his grip on the sword. The boy seemed to have lost all sorts of strategy and was using his free arm to clutch his injured one. Since the sword was lodged in with lightning chakra on the inside, the pain was indescribable and with the weapon still inside, Naruto could not repair. Fugaku twisted the sword gleefully, relishing the screams of pain that accompanied every movement.

What he wasn't expecting was getting kicked from his blind spot, powerfully. In his surprise, he accidentally released the sword from where it was buried into Naruto's arm. The clan head looked back at a fuming Sasuke.

"You will not hurt my friends." Sasuke snarled, radiating killer intent as best he could.

His father laughed. "That took you long enough. But even with your Sharingan activated Sasuke, you are weak. There is nothing you can do to stop me." Fugaku stopped talking when Naruto fell in beside Sasuke, with a fully repaired arm.

Knowing he needed to strike quickly before anything happened, the Uchiha clan head charged his son with the sword raised. Just as it was about to land, Naruto caught the sword in his hand realizing that it could not cut him aside from the weak spot in his arms. Fugaku tugged at the blade, confused and leapt back to safety when Naruto crushed the blade, preventing it from being further used.

Before he could fully come up with a plan, Hiashi dropped down in front of the two boys, glaring at his rival. He set into the gentle fist stance and taunted Fugaku to come closer.

Fugaku's eyes narrowed. "Well, well, hello Hiashi. What would you say to a duel right now? This would settle which the better doujutsu is. Sharingan or Byakugan?"

Inside his stoic mask Hiashi was smiling. Gai had given him a very helpful tip to fight the sharingan. If you throw a right punch, the sharingan will see it, predict where it would go and their body would react to it. But instead of a right punch you do a left kick which is completely unexpected. Basically, every move you intended on doing, do something different. But you have to mix it up, so that a sharingan user will not know whether the attack it predicted is really going to hit or something else will. This tactic was what Hiashi was planning to use on Fugaku. It had worked so far on the others he had fought with.

Hiashi ran forward and cocked his arm for a right hand hook. Fugaku smiled, this was definitely not the gentle fist style and he wondered at how easy it would be to dodge this as he took a step back. He realized too late that the hook had only been a distraction and that the real threat was the kick that was following up the momentum of the hook. He could only watch until it slammed into his stomach, flinging him back.

Fugaku clutched his stomach, resisting the urge to throw up. 'So the Hyuga wants to play with that trick hm.' He thought. Well then, he wouldn't avoid the first blow but expect the second instead. Confident in his strategy, Fugaku ran head first at Hiashi. Again he noticed the right arm cock back, oh well, it isn't real, no need to dodge this one. He watched Hiashi's legs carefully wondering which one would bring the kick. Unfortunately he never got to find out as Hiashi's punch had been for real and it connected painfully with his head.

Still reeling, he pulled of a jutsu. "Katon: Kasai Sasori no jutsu!" Once again the condensed point of the fire jutsu sped towards a target.

"Kaiten!" Hiashi called, releasing chakra from all of his tenkutsu at once and spinning like a top.

The fire attack bounced harmlessly off the Hyuga defense. Fugaku snarled. He ducked just in time to avoid a thrown piece of solid brick. He leapt to the side not soon after as Naruto was picking up every last bit that he could find and flinging the large chunks of debris at him. He heard a wall cave in behind him from one of the impacts and flinched. There was no need to find out what would happen if on of those hit him. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called out as a human version of himself appeared.

"Hey boss! Eto, why are you transformed?" the clone asked questioningly.

"We need to kill the guy there, strong enough to throw stuff?"

The clone punched the air. "You know it 'ttebayo!" He beamed as he flung rocks as large as possible necessary.

Fugaku swore, now with debris coming from different angles he could not concentrate onto only Hiashi anymore. Sooner rather than later he felt a kunai strike his foot, pinning it to the ground as well as multiple kunai coming along with the large debris making it much harder to see them. He barely noticed four Sasuke's happily throwing his kunai, tiring and distracting his demented father.

Then without warning a large staff came crashing down from above which he barely managed to dodge. To his horror, the road where he had been standing had almost been obliterated and was now a small crater from the force of the impact. With this distraction he also barely avoided two kunai that nicked his cheek. He glared at Hiruzen with the staff and at Itachi who had thrown the kunai. The clan head had the shock of his life when two hands firmly gripped his feet out from the ground below. When he looked down he realized that what he saw was the smirking face of a blonde, whiskered boy.

 _'When did he get underground? Oh wait, the barrage of debris stopped, why is he holding me?'_ He got his answer a few seconds later when Bumblebee's fist connected with the Uchiha's chest, powerfully enough to send him crashing through at least two whole empty houses.

All the remaining forces gasped when they saw him stand up.

"Give up tou-san. There's no one left." Itachi called out.

"Do what he says, Fugaku. You have nothing left to prove. All your conspirators are dead now."

Fugaku looked around him. All signs of fighting had stopped, which meant that they had killed everyone in the village. He also noticed that all the surviving forces were also gathered around him. He started laughing maniacally. Everyone stared at him in surprise. Was this how one was supposed to react when all your family is killed?

"You think I'm powerless?!" He sneered after grimacing at the amount of his own blood he had in his robes. That boy had shattered numerous ribs. He bit down the pain as he glared at them. He closed his eyes for a minute before opening them again. He almost did a victory dance when Itachi and Shisui backed away in fear.

"Yes, Itachi. I have the Mangekyou Sharingan now. Ever wonder where your uncle went all those years ago? " Fugaku taunted. "I killed him, just to get these eyes. Now I shall show you the might of the Mangekyou! Susano'o!"

The entire force present gaped in horror as half of a green skeleton appeared around Fugaku. It then began to slowly grow skin and armour around it. As if by some unspoken signal, the entire force present bombarded it with every jutsu they knew. But it was hopeless. Inside the Susano'o Fugaku could not stop laughing. "What a waste of chakra! Susano'o is the absolute defense! You can't hurt me while I'm in here! I'm invincible!"

To the tired Shinobi, seeing it rise up out of the ground to stand on two legs was terrifying. It loomed over them as if Kami passing her judgment as it glared at them. The giant, demonic construct then raised an enormous axe. "Bye bye!" Fugaku yelled as it swung.

All of a sudden, massive golden chains that were glowing with a red light had managed to restrain the beast. The chains wrapped around its wrists, arms torso and legs. All forces present were in awe of the two women on opposite ends of the large beast that were the source of the great chains that forced the Susano'o onto its knees, helpless.

"Good job Mariko!" Yugiri yelled from her spot. "Keep it up!"

The gathered force could then only watch as three red haired men made their way to the Susano'o. In unison, everyone heard them say, "Ten no mon rirīsu: Dai kyu gēto!" (Celestial Gate Release: Ninth gate) Everyone felt the massive power surge coming from all three of the men, all of which leapt into the air and hovered, as if flying, to talk to the Uchiha.

"Uchiha, you believe too much in your own power. Now let us show you the power of the Uzumaki!"

Hachiro blurred and appeared right next to the restrained Susano'o punching it full force. Fugaku was astounded. It cracked the Susano'o! The other two followed in quick succession, the impact sounding a lot like powerful thunder. After three more hits each, they linked their arms together and chanted, "Ten no Seigi." (Elemental Justice). Their combined arms seemed to grow pure white before the light became blinding and caused everybody present to shield their eyes. The three then charged and slammed the glowing, white orb into the chest of the Susano'o. The following explosion could be seen for miles around in a spectrum of colour. But even with the intensity of the explosion, nothing was destroyed. It was like the explosion of the Susano'o was more for the sake of a light show than a release of the power.

After everyone had regained their bearings, Mikoto ran and crushed Sasuke in a powerful bear-like hug. "Come, Itachi, Shisui."Mikoto called. "Let's go get the others, they must be bored in that room by now."

The four chuckled. Then Mikoto's eyes turned to Naruto's Bumblebee form. "Naruto. Thank you for being there for my son when I wasn't. We owe his life to you." Mikoto thanked him sincerely.

Naruto shook his head. "Don't be silly. But would you mind if I called you Ka-chan as well?" Naruto asked innocently.

Mikoto wiped the tears that had been forming in her eyes. _'Kushina, I finally get this opportunity to pay you back!'_ "Of course Naruto! I don't think Sasuke would mind having you as a brother anyway."

Sasuke nodded his head in approval.

"Yatta! Let's go get some ramen, I'm starving!" Naruto complained.

"Baka! You ripped your clothes when you transformed! Don't transform back now!" Sasuke pleaded.

"Eh, why not. Afraid I'll take your fan girls if I do?" Naruto teased, mock glaring at Sasuke.

Sasuke felt like throttling his new found brother as he glared back.

Itachi stepped in between them and poked both their foreheads at the same time. The elder brother smiled. "I could get used to this." Itachi smiled at Shisui who returned the smile happily.

* * *

 **And we're done! Wow, this chapter was REALLY big! Lot of stuff happening, but that's the beauty of these things. It gives you a lot of stuff to go over before the next chapter comes out.**

 **Anyone notice the word play with the title? Clever right?**

 **Side note: Master of Jiongu will be updated either today or tomorrow. Please forgive me for my lateness!**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	5. Chapter 5: Transform and Rise Up

Chapter 5: Transform and Rise Up

* * *

 **Hello my wonderful fans! Once again we have another chapter for you all today. This one is another big one, so get ready.**

 **Review Time:**

 **Vallavarayan: Everything should have a weakness.**

 **KuronoDono12: Everything introduced will have a greater part later on in the story. Furthermore, Naruto will unlock the transformers gradually and the more powerful ones such as Optimus will be introduced to the world much later on.**

 **Now then, let's begin!**

* * *

(Time skip-One Year to Genin Exam)

Four Jonin were sitting silently together concealed in an air vent above a classroom. Said classroom was full of enthusiastic and nervous students about to take their genin exam as a class.

The four jonin consisted of a masked man who sported gravity defying white hair and had his Konoha forehead protector dropping over his left eye, a woman with red eyes and curly hair and had what looked to be bandages wrapped around herself, a bearded man that was smoking in the air vent and last but not least, a ninja clad in green spandex with a bowler haircut and thick eyebrows.

These four were otherwise known as Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuuhi, Asuma Sarutobi and Gai Maito respectively. The day before, all of them and six others were called to the Hokage's office to discuss being Jonin sensei for the new class of would be graduates. They were looking to complete the candidates for each of their respective Genin teams. Ever since the last Great Shinobi War, some unsaid rule had been passed out that encouraged Genin teams to consist of at least four Genin and a Jonin sensei, the reason being that once they became Chunin, they could work well enough together in a group of four. Of the four Jonin present, Asuma was the only one confident that he had filled his team's roster.

* * *

(Flashback)

Sarutobi leaned back against his chair and sighed. "Thank Kami for another reason to forego this paper work."

The ten Jonin standing before him stood attentively in a horizontal line in front of his desk. "I trust you all know what each of you has been called for?" he asked.

Kurenai nodded. "Hai, Hokage-sama. It is about becoming Jonin sensei is it not?"

Sarutobi nodded back. "You are right Kurenai. Now I have called you here to help organize your teams. It would be better if each sensei here was able to teach a squad appropriately with his or her personal skill set. Please let me know anything specific from what you require of the squad you will be preparing."

The other six sensei said that they would be fine with whoever they got and didn't require anything specific. Then Gai stepped forward. "Hokage-sama! I must request the presence of the most youthful Lee Rock in the academy! The boy's only focus is Taijutsu since he cannot use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu and since I am better than my eternal rival over here I assure you that I can train the youthful child to be an energetic green beast such as myself!" Gai announced excitedly and flashed the hokage with his nice guy smile and a thumbs up. "Furthermore, the Uzumaki girl he is always with is just as youthful! They constantly push each other to new limits and I think they have found eternal rivals in each other! Other than this I feel I need to see by I need those two youthful children in my team!"

The Hokage gave a small smile and raised both his hands to placate Gai. "Do not worry my friend, I am sure your comrades here will not dare request them now will they?" The Hokage watched in amusement s Gai's colleagues sweat dropped.

"Yosh! Such a youthful team will go far!"

"Anyone else?" The Hokage asked.

"Tou-san. Shikaku, Inoichi and Chouza have personally asked me to be the instructor for their three children. Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji are already well developed ninja and I will have no problem with them. As for the fourth member, this Kaede Uzumaki seems to spend lots of time with Shikamaru, I feel that this team will set a good ground base and will work smoothly." Asuma stated, drawing in smoke from his pipe.

"That team will surely be great Asuma, I do not think you will have any problems. Kurenai, since this will be you and Kakashi's first time as jonin sensei, what are you planning?"

"I was thinking of putting together a tracking team Hokage-sama." Kurenai answered politely.

The old man raised an eyebrow. "You are aware of the dangers that befall a tracking team I assume? Since you have been part of one as well." Sarutobi asked with a little concern.

"Yes Hokage-sama I am aware of the danger. However, I fell that I am best suited to training a team of trackers as combat type ninja are not meant for me. I was planning on taking the Inuzuka, the female Hyuga and the Aburame for the team. Together they can make the perfect trackers. The only problem is, this team lacks in firepower, and I am searching for a student that can cover this." Kurenai answered calmly.

"That is good insight Kurenai, I wish you the best of luck with that team. What about you Kakashi?" The Hokage questioned before raising an eyebrow at the masked man.

Kakashi giggled again while reading his little orange book. "My my Jojo, that's so naughty!" He whispered to himself.

Kurenai gained a tick mark on her forehead. "Kakashi! We are in the presence of the Hokage! Show some respect!" She yelled.

Kakashi sighed heavily, "Sorry Kurenai, you were saying Hokage-sama?" Kakashi said as he tucked his little book into his jonin vest protectively.

"Do you have anyone in mind for your team?"

"Oh yeah, Of course." Kakashi's face turned serious. "I would like both Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki on my team. I am more of a combat type ninja and I would prefer to have a team that I can pass my skills into. Ever since Naruto has moved into the Uchiha compound, Itachi has been able to train both of them whenever he has time to do so. Both boys have great potential that I believe I can unlock. Other than this, the two of them are what you can call a well oiled machine. They can work together almost seamlessly now. All that I am lacking is a long range fighter and a possible medic." He stated purposefully, his voice carrying out that no wasn't an option. 'And this is also for both of you, Obito, Minato-sensei.' He thought.

The others all turned to look at Kakashi. His proposed team was going to be quite possibly the strongest among all of them.

"Interesting Kakashi, I see that you already have members planned for each of your teams. I encourage you to meet up with them but do not inform them of your possible status as their jonin sensei. You are dismissed."

* * *

(Flashback End)

Kurenai was relatively short on options for her fourth member. Kakashi had taken the two best combatants to fill that role and at the moment, she could only see one available option. He would have to do. This Arashi Uzumaki.

Kakashi was watching each of the students carefully. After the Hokage had dismissed them, he had gone in to take a look at each student's current records and observations. The pink haired girl, he noticed, had very high chakra control for her age and currently held the highest marks in her class. She had potential, even if he was a little disgusted by her fangirling attitude. For his long range warrior, he was eyeing Tenten. The girl was very potent with weapons and was rivaling Naruto and Sasuke, even with their doujutsus activated. He smiled, this team would work, and hopefully nothing too bad would occur to them.

The four sensei then waited to watch through the rest of the genin exam.

Naruto was currently loving life. After the battle at the Uchiha compound, Naruto had been invited to stay with Sasuke and his family and had lived there ever since. Hiashi and his family had been a little sad with him leaving but they understood that Sasuke and Naruto were like brothers. Aside from that he even got to now members of his own clan! Added to these blessings were that Itachi had been training both him and Sasuke at the same time as their doujutsu were eerily similar in function.

Last but not least now was Mizuki. At first he had hated the man completely. Mizuki had been biased against him since he had first come into the academy and had been continuously sabotaging his studies. One year ago, he didn't fully trust Mizuki when he had promised to be fairer and to teach him. But Mizuki had been solely focusing on Naruto since then, correcting his mistakes and even making sure that Naruto had been studying for his academic work. It wasn't before long that he was treating Naruto and Sasuke to ramen in his spare time. Mizuki now felt like another elder brother to Naruto, one that he was glad to have. The sensei had even gone to Mikoto once to help introduce a study schedule for Naruto and Sasuke. At first Naruto had been outraged that he had less free time after school, but after finding it much easier to pass the tests given to him in school, all complaints went down the drain.

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud commotion at the bottom of the room. Sasuke, again, was being horded by another mob of girls and the poor Uchiha was lying down on his desk, desperately covering his ears. After all this time, Naruto still found it hilarious and burst out laughing. The blonde was quickly joined by Shino and Kiba who were by now pitying the pretty boy. The trio laughed even harder when Arashi joined the scene.

"Sakura-chan! You're so beautiful 'ttebayo! Can we go on a date." He pleaded cheerfully.

Sakura slugged him across the jaw and he tripped backwards. "Don't call me Sakura-chan! And no! I only like Sasuke-kun!"

Arashi rubbed his jaw painfully before leaping back up. "It's ok, I know how hard it is to admit your feelings but don't be afraid, I like you too!"

Sakura gave a disgusted shriek and slugged him again before running up to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun save me! That evil person is trying to take me away!" Sakura whined.

Sasuke groaned and dropped his forehead onto the table. "Kami, what did I do to deserve this?"

Meanwhile, Hinata had gone and assisted Arashi in coming back with her to Naruto. "Aw man." He complained, "why can't she just say she likes me? Is it really that hard?"

Hinata patted his back comfortingly. "It's going to be fine, A-arashi-kun." Hinata reassured him. "One day she might see you as you see her."

"Gahh! It's gonna take too long!" Arashi whined again.

Naruto laughed. "What do you see I the banshee anyway Arashi? If it was something really good then don't you think Sasuke would have seen it? He has better eyes than you as well."

Arashi shrugged. "I don't know. She's pretty."

Kiba pretended he was gagging which made Shino and Naruto laugh. "Come on Arashi, that's not a good reason. There are plenty of other pretty girls who are less, well, noisy." Kiba said, making Hinata giggle.

Arashi just looked confused. "Like who?"

"Well like Hinata over here. She's beautiful, smart and much more quiet." Naruto suggested innocently while Hinata changed a very dark shade of red.

"E-eh!?" Hinata squealed. _'Naruto-kun called me beautiful and he likes me more than Sakura!'_ she put her tiny hands over her mouth to prevent further squealing and other girly noises from coming out.

"Hinata-chan? Are you all right?" Arashi asked and he placed a hand on her forehead. He then took in her face as her hair was slightly out of the way. "Naruto is right! You are much more beautiful than Sakura Hinata-chan!" Arashi smiled at the Hyuga heiress.

Hinata at this point was beginning to freak out, as she wasn't used to getting compliments on her looks, especially from people her age. _'Arashi-kun also thinks I'm more beautiful! And he called me chan instead of Sakura!'_

"I know!" Arashi continued, "Why don't you go on a date with me instead?"

Hinata gulped and stared into those emerald green eyes which stared back so full of life. She glanced back and forth between the two boys in front of her, alternating between cerulean blue and emerald green before passing out.

Kiba caught Hinata just before she hit the ground. "Oi! Knock it off you two! You don't need to catch her every time she falls!" Kiba yelled frustrated.

Both boys tilted their head slightly to the left in sync. "Eh? What did we do?" They asked in unison.

Kiba took one look at the cluelessness in their eyes and sighed. "You guys are hopeless."

Now they kept their heads tilted but asked unison once again. "Hopeless in what?"

Shino just sighed while Kiba banged his head on the desk. The Aburame then started slowly shaking Hinata awake. In a few minutes the door of the class opened to let Mizuki and Iruka in. It was a little disheartening to see the pile of papers they carried on their way in.

"Class, settle down now. The written test is about to start," Iruka called out.

Arashi groaned. "Already! Can't we do it tomorrow?"

Mizuki completely ignored him. "This test will not be easy and it will involve everything you have ever learned in the academy. Good luck to you all," The white haired man said before handing out the papers.

"Good luck Hinata," Naruto whispered to his side.

"G-good luck t-to you too N-Naruto-kun," Hinata twiddled her fingers.

"You may start," Iruka announced.

The eager Genin began their tests in a comfortable silence, for most anyway. "Gahh sensei! Why do you have to make this so hard?" Arashi whined while pulling his hair in frustration.

"Be quiet Arashi and stop complaining, you would have known all that if you were actually listening to anything we taught in class."

"Kuso…"

Naruto was looking at his red haired cousin curiously. He vaguely remembered being in the same position more than once over the last four years. Until of course, Mizuki had accompanied him and Sasuke home to have his 'talk' with Mikoto about Naruto and Sasuke's academic positions. He was easily believing what Mizuki had said then that at least a little of his time in revising the work every day would make written tests all the more easy for him. Now here he was, with answers popping into his brain as if by reflex. The blonde finished his exam a good thirty minutes before the ending time and had handed in his paper to a Mizuki who was grinning victoriously. Naruto scowled and pretended to be asleep as he was afraid he couldn't sit still for very long. He wanted to continue his training but he wasn't exactly allowed to leave the room for at least half an hour. What a punishment.

"N-Na-Naruto-kun." Hinata said gently as she prodded Naruto slowly awake.

"Hai, Hinata-chan." Naruto replied groggily as he sat up, trying to rub some of the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ano, it's time for the next part of the exam now. And the others are outside."

Naruto blinked at her. "Nah, I don't wanna go, I'll take a little nap first." Naruto sighed as he curled up back down to rest his head in his arms.

Kiba laughed. "Come Shino, looks like we need to drag blondie out!" Kiba teased while Akamaru barked approvingly from atop the boy's messy hair.

"I agree. Why? Because it would be such a waste for all his hard work if he failed this exam now." Shino stated as he picked up Naruto's other arm and helped Kiba haul him to his feet.

"I hate you guys…" Naruto groaned sleepily.

"Mah mah, so what, you're coming with us blondie." Kiba mocked cheerfully.

"What's with the blondie nickname dog breath?" Naruto looked up grinning as Kiba glared back.

"Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun, they might be starting already outside, can we go now." Hinata pleaded urgently.

"Sure, no problem hime." Naruto replied as he stood up to walk in front of the group, completely missing both Hinata's change in color and the steam pouring out of her ears.

* * *

(In the Training Grounds)

"Ah, there you are Naruto. Nice of you to finally join us." Iruka greeted Naruto warmly.

"Have a nice sleep gaki?" Mizuki smirked with his arms crossed. "The others are almost done in the throwing weapons test."

Naruto mock glared. "Not fair Mizuki-sensei! Why didn't you wake me up?"

Mizuki laughed and put in an innocent look. "You were sleeping so peacefully, I thought it wouldn't hurt to leave you to your own sweet dreams." Mizuki then put out his tongue childishly.

"Sensei, tomorrow you'll wake up bald when I'm done with you." Naruto threatened.

Mizuki just guffawed at the threat. "You seem to be forgetting what happened the last time you tried to get in my apartment don't you?" Naruto paled. He remembered all too clearly the temper of Mizuki's girlfriend the last time he had walked in with paint. She didn't buy his reasoning that he merely 'spilt' the paint in their house and had chased him around Konoha till he dropped. It had been a subject at the dinner table with Sasuke and Itachi endlessly torturing him about it. Definitely something he didn't want to happen again.

"Then again maybe not."

"Arashi Uzumaki!" Iruka called out. "Your turn."

"Yatta! This time it should work! I've been training all year 'ttebayo!" Arashi whooped as he picked up the kunai and shuriken. The red-haired boy flung all his shuriken as a group and at least half hit the intended targets. Next he threw the kunai and he barely managed to keep them all within the acceptable parameters. "I definitely passed this, didn't I Iruka-sensei!?" Arashi yelled excitedly. The red haired boy then scowled when Iruka walked back out from behind a tree.

"Well done Arashi!" Iruka encouraged him with a nervous smile.

"Sensei! Why were you hiding behind that tree? Don't you trust me?" Arashi scowled.

"Heheh, um," Iruka smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head looking for a suitable answer. "You're not exactly the most… accurate… student at the moment."

Sasuke burst out laughing and slapped his knee. "Good one sensei! I didn't see that one coming!"

"Oh yeah Sasuke teme! Then why don't you show me how it's done?" Arashi growled.

"Hn, move out of the way." Sasuke said as he collected his kunai and shuriken. The Uchiha then went twice the distance away from all the available targets and waited for everyone to move out of the way and closed his eyes.

"Sharingan." He muttered as he opened his eyes, revealing two tomoe in his red eyes.

"Hah!" Arashi scoffed. "He needs the Sharingan to even throw properly!"

Sasuke smirked as he glanced at Naruto who gave him a nod. Sasuke hen flung all his shuriken in one throw and he simply watched as they all embedded themselves dead centre into multiple targets. Sasuke then arranged the kunai in a row in his hands and took a deep breath. He had trained in this enough times with Itachi. He threw the first kunai high up into the air in a different direction from the main target. The next kunai hit the previous and altered its course, heading back down to the ground. Before it got too low, another kunai deflected it and it started heading to the right of the main target. Another kunai pushed it a little lower and moved it slowly to the left while the next one made sure it was parallel on course and the main kunai struck dead centre of the main target while all the others managed to hit the other spread out targets in the area although not as accurate. His next five kunai repeated the display of the first and Sasuke managed to deflect another kunai into the centre next to the main target. Successful, he deactivated his sharingan and grinned at Naruto.

Most of the audience was awed. Not even the senseis could repeat what they had just seen; then again they did not really have the doujutsu that accompanied it. Arashi wisely shut his mouth after that display of skill and settled for simply glaring at the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, you threw the second kunai a little too early. Didn't Itachi nii-chan warn you about getting over excited?" Naruto scolded while crossing his arms along with a stern look on his face.

Sasuke looked away smirking. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

Naruto sighed. "Well, at least you hit the target. Just remember to wait next time ok?"

Mizuki and Iruka looked at Naruto curiously. They both knew by now of his special condition and certain powers he possessed which he had revealed to both of them as a show of trust. But to be able to scold off a sharingan user that was showing off their skills only showed that Naruto's doujutsu was mostly on par with the Uchiha's sharingan. "Naruto, you're the last one. When you're ready." Mizuki signaled.

Naruto stood in the exact same spot that Sasuke had used to perform his display and subtly activated his Tsuihogan. Not everyone around him knew about it and even if they did, they would not notice unless he looked them directly in the eyes. He watched in clarity as he repeated the same pattern Sasuke had done. Over the past year, his Tsuihogan had seemingly slowed time down even more and he was starting to learn how to predict movements and timings to a degree where he even had a full three seconds to decide where to hit the kunai in the air to deflect it and what speed to hit it at. If anyone looked at his pupils however, they were darting around his eyes flicking from side to side at a very high speed. The only difference from Sasuke's technique was he didn't rely on instinct of when to throw the kunai, but rather watching and judging the best course of action. This way, Naruto was able to make to two kunai collide while making sure that even the wayward kunai he had used to orient the main one had managed to find their own dead centre on separate targets. "See Sasuke, you should really listen to Nii-chan."

"Hn, I get your point. Next time." Sasuke grinned at Naruto. A friendly rivalry never hurt and he was still relatively better than his surrogate brother in other aspects. Such as girls and looks. Ok maybe he wasn't too happy about the former but at least you live with what you get.

"Ne, Sensei. What now? I wanna hurry this up and graduate already 'ttebayo!" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

"Well technically all of you officially passed the obstacle course yesterday so we do not need to waste time in repeating that. But now I want a demonstration of the three basic jutsu we have taught you at the same time. Now every one henge!"

In a large poof of smoke all the genin seemed to have transformed into someone else. Many imitated Iruka and Mizuki while some even decided they wanted to imitate their parents. Iruka began walking up to each one and checked the quality of the henge as well as the acting ability. The scar faced man frowned when he reached the end of the line to see that Sasuke and Naruto hadn't even moved.

"Sasuke, Naruto. I know both of you are very familiar with this but you need to henge into someone so we may grade you." Iruka explained, sounding disappointed.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and crossed his arms while smirking. "I do not see the point sensei."

"Sasuke, that arrogant attitude will come and bite you in the back later on." Iruka sighed before turning to Naruto. The blonde haired boy had both his arms over his head and was grinning back at Iruka with his eyes partially closed in laziness.

"Aww, come on Iruka-sensei! I'm awesome at this 'ttebayo! I can also show you the advanced…" Naruto glanced at Iruka with a sly grin while opening a mischievous looking blue eye. Iruka held up his hand signaling to stop immediately.

"There is no need for that Naruto." Iruka said hastily as he felt a little trickle of blood threatening to escape his nose just from the thought. "But you still need to impersonate someone successfully to pass this test."

The two boys looked at each other and released their henge simultaneously while Iruka just gaped at them in shock. Where Naruto had been standing was Sasuke who was smirking victoriously and where Sasuke had been smirking now stood a grinning Naruto. Mizuki burst out laughing as he realized that the boys had been impersonating each other and had gotten the drop on both him and Iruka. The white haired man laughed harder at the stupefied look on Iruka's face and slapped him on the back to get rid of his thoughts. "Hey Iruka, don't feel bad about yourself. You should be proud you students were able to fool you like this. Just wait till the others hear!" Mizuki taunted, earning a laugh from the Uchiha and Uzumaki.

"Hey! They tricked you too!" Iruka countered childishly and pouted.

"But there's no proof." Mizuki winked as Iruka scowled. "And I have a whole class here to prove my story later on. Right kids?" Mizuki called out.

"Hai Mizuki-sensei!" A chorus of answers sounded out while Iruka sweat dropped.

"I could swear a year ago you practically hated kids." Iruka grumbled. "Everybody please display your skill with a Kawarimi. There are logs in that corner for your disposal. Now then, come one at a time please." Iruka then proceeded to observe the students attempt to switch places with a log. He was slightly bewildered during Naruto's demonstration when his surroundings shifted. One minute he was watching Naruto intently along with the line of students behind the boy and the next second he had said students behind himself even though he hadn't even moved.

"Awesome Naruto!" Sasuke called out. "I didn't know we were allowed to Kawarimi with sensei! I would have done it as well."

Naruto shrugged. "Technically he said Kawarimi, he didn't say we HAD to use the logs in the first place. Right, Iruka-sensei?"

"Haha Iruka, you should see your…" Mizuki was stopped when he became the next target of Naruto's Kawarimi and wore a look of surprise before his face scrunched up in mock anger.

"Hah Mizuki!" Iruka laughed gleefully. "You should see your face!" Iruka countered. Mizuki scowled.

"Fine Iruka, let's just finish off today quickly, I'm going back home early. I'm tired."

Iruka sighed and carried on with the exams.

* * *

(End of the School Day)

Mizuki smirked as he watched the students all leave the classroom. Deceiving everyone had been surprisingly easy. The Kyubi brat had been so desperate for attention and friends that he forgave Mizuki almost immediately after he apologized. After that, Mizuki just had to imitate whatever Iruka did for Naruto, such as treating the boy to ramen. Oh how he despised that meal. All the slurping and drinking of that squishy meal that didn't taste any good at all. The boy also ate as if he was ravenous and only recently did he stop inhaling the ramen every time it got placed in front of him. The boy also had the ideology that ramen was the food of the gods, delusional at best. But if buying the boy ramen and eating one bowl while listening to anything the demon brat had to say was all it took to get him to like and trust you, then why not? All that caring teacher façade effortlessly pulled off. After a few well placed incidents everyone trusted him, such as ensuring Naruto was studying. Sure, he taught the brat the proper academy stances and skills, but it wasn't like he was much of a threat either way. Along with this it was very simple to show genuine feelings such as smiling. Then again, who wouldn't smile while wondering what fate had in store for the brat in the hands of Orochimaru-sama?

Orochimaru would reward him greatly if he returned with the scroll and the Kyubi Jinchuriki. There was no question about the scroll, he was meant to bring it no matter what. But the Kyubi Jinchuriki was optional, and he would be rewarded far more if he was brought to Orochimaru alive. Just in case something went wrong he had Osamu to ensure everything went smoothly. Mizuki laughed evilly, it was time to put his long awaited plan to good use. He needed someone close to Naruto to fail the exam for the plan to start. Sasuke was out of the question, prodigious subjects like that didn't simply fail. The rest of Naruto's friends were mostly clan heirs, he would definitely get in trouble for failing one of them. Then of course, there was Arashi. Naruto's red haired cousin had passed, barely. It wouldn't hurt to decrease his points a little bit to ensure he failed now would it? Mizuki laughed. Oh well, time to move.

* * *

(Outside)

"Are you ok Arashi?" Sasuke asked the Uzumaki with concern.

Arashi sighed. "I thought I would have at least passed. Damn Bunshin. It was just fine. What was wrong with it?"

Kiba snickered, "For starters, it was see through, pale and couldn't even walk."

Arashi growled back. "It's not my fault! And I can't even do it like Naruto. He just makes Kage Bunshin instead, something I have no idea how to do."

"Oi Arashi! You can't blame me! But you did great 'ttebayo! Maybe next time." Naruto consoled as he draped his right arm over his cousin's shoulders.

"Why am I not really surprised he failed?" Akane asked teasingly.

"Akane, I believe that Arashi deserves much better treatment than that. Why? He is your cousin so should you not express concern for his feeling? Furthermore failing the genin exam when the entire class passes is a harsh blow to anyone." Shino expressed in his monotone voice.

Akane raised her hands in surrender. "Calm down Shino, I'm just messing 'ttebane!"

"Ok guys enough. We'll see you later." Naruto waved. "I'm taking Arashi to Ichiraku's. Sasuke, tell Nii-chan and Ka-san I'll come back later. Hinata, can you tell Aunty Yugiri the same about Arashi?"

"No problem." Hinata and Sasuke said simultaneously.

"Jinx Hinata!" Sasuke shouted immediately, pointing at her. "Now you're not allowed to talk!"

Hinata shied away to the side. "Sasuke stop messing!" Naruto scolded. "Later everyone!" Naruto waved as he dragged Arashi off, hoping to lighten the mood.

When they were out of sight, the cousins started walking slowly side by side. "Arashi, let's go talk to Iruka sensei, maybe we can ask if there's still a way for you to graduate."

"Actually there is." Mizuki said, strolling over.

"Mizuki-sensei!" Both boys exclaimed. "Let's go get some ramen!" The two Uzumaki didn't notice the flinch.

"Are you boys more interested in ramen than finding a way for Arashi to pass?" Mizuki teased.

Arashi's face lit up with hope while Naruto's was filled with joy. "Really Mizuki-sensei? What should I do to pass?"

Mizuki stroked an invisible beard. "Well, I prepared something in case you failed. If you can accomplish this challenge, then you will pass."

By now Arashi was literally bouncing up and down on his seat. "Really really!? Awesome! I'll do it and pass 'ttebayo!" Arashi exclaimed happily.

"What does he need to do Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto questioned curiously.

"First of all, he can have a partner. Are you willing to help him Naruto?" Naruto nodded. "Well then, I hid a certain scroll inside the Hokage residence two days ago. If you two can sneak in and take the scroll without being seen then that will be the first part. Testing your skills as shinobi in infiltration. After you get the scroll you must learn one technique from in then I shall let you pass. Meet me in training ground thirty two near the west gate in the forest. You can show me the technique there."

"Yatta! Let's go and get that scroll Arashi!" Naruto yelled as he leapt up punching the air.

"This is so cool 'ttebayo!" Arashi answered as they started running down the road.

"Naruto, Arashi!" Mizuki called out. Both boys stopped in their tracks. "Meet me there in four hours, and the Hokage residence is that way, just so you know." Mizuki pointed in the opposite direction the boys were heading. The Uzumaki cousins grinned sheepishly and rubbed their necks. Before taking off again but this time in the right direction.

Mizuki watched the boys excitedly charge away before turning to an alley. "Did you hear all of that Osamu?" Mizuki asked a slim man dressed in black as Osamu silently made his way to Mizuki. Osamu nodded silently and followed Mizuki as they leapt to do their business.

* * *

(Thirty Minutes Later)

A small robot snuck silently under a table and waited until the assistant passed by. It had been used in stealth operations much more than once for pranks and had gotten away with all of them. Naruto had unlocked Frenzy halfway through the year by accident in the middle of a prank and had quickly grown attached to the not so destructive small body.

The robot then scurried quickly down the corridor then froze as it sensed more voices headed its way and it silently panicked as it had nowhere to hide. It then remembered it could transform and the humanoid robot quickly shifted before transforming into a radio.

"Oi! What's a radio doing here?"

"Pick it up and put it back in that room."

"Hai senpai."

The robot felt itself being carried and could only watch as it was dumped into a dark room with other electronic devices. Once the door was closed, it listened to the footsteps moving away as it waited and transformed back to its bipedal state. It then heard more footsteps approaching and it patiently waited at the door. The door then opened silently as an 'assistant' of the Hokage peeked in. "Naruto! Stop wasting time!" The 'assistant' hissed angrily. The small robot looked up curiously.

"My name is Frenzy."

"Stop naming your robots Naruto and come on! If we fail this I'll kick you so hard you'll never eat ramen again 'ttebayo!"

The robot would have pouted if its current face would allow it. Alas, its facial features only allowed it to narrow its upper eyes together and close up its mouth. Frenzy then looked up after a moment of sulking and nodded before silently making its way to another locked room. Arashi had henged into one of the everyday assistants in the area and was playing lookout for Naruto who was searching for the room with the required scroll.

After another ten minutes of searching, Frenzy finally found the room's door which had been camouflaged to look like a simple wall. Frenzy then let his finger slide through the lock and searched for any other seals to deactivate. The small robot found two more before shaping his finger into a key and unlocking the door. Once inside they immediately noticed the large scroll in the centre of the room and they had no doubt that it was the one they needed. The cousins high fived as they walked out of the room, straight into the path of another original assistant.

"What, what are you doing with that scroll!? Stop!"

"Oiroke no jutsu!" Arashi chanted and he watched in amusement as the Chunin collapsed with a massive nosebleed. "Let's get out of here."

It didn't take very long before the boys managed to head out to the meeting spot.

* * *

(Four Hours Later)

The two boys were crouching over the scroll, studying it intently and reading into it. For the past three hours, the boys had been memorizing techniques and their descriptions and uses. Naruto just skimmed through the scroll as the photographic memory he had obtained as a side effect of the cube was very useful.

"Ahh Naruto, I got this one as well for sure!" Arashi exclaimed excitedly as he got ready to form seals. "This is the last technique but I think it's the only one we can do here with our, you know, chakra control."

Naruto smirked. "Your chakra control is sucky. Don't include me with you."

Arashi put his tongue out and was just about to perform a Jutsu when Iruka leapt down from the trees, a mixture of shock and confusion running thorough his face.

"Oh, hello Iruka-sensei." Arashi grinned happily.

"What do you think you are doing!?" Iruka yelled as he marched towards the boys.

"Eh?" A confused Naruto looked up. "We're doing Mizuki-sensei's test for Arashi to pass."

It was now Iruka's turn to be confused. "Mizuki? What test."

"Mizuki sensei prepared this test for us, he said we had to get this scroll and learn a technique from it while waiting here for Arashi to pass. Then he can also become a Genin!" Naruto explained excitedly. "And its nearly time to show Mizuki-sensei!"

"Yes, I'm ready Naruto! I told you I was gonna pass 'ttebayo!"

Iruka looked at the boys' faces and realized that they thoroughly believed whatever they had been told and he felt anger at his supposed best friend. What type of sick man tricked these boys into doing his bidding?

"Hello Uzumaki." Mizuki called out as he landed next to them with a man dressed in black at his side. "I see you have brought the scroll. Excellent job! Did you learn anything from it yet?" Mizuki smiled deceivingly at the boys, deciding to hold onto the friendly façade for a little while longer.

Arashi leapt up onto his feet. "Hai Mizuki-sensei! Are you ready to pass me?" Arashi asked enthusiastically, eager to show of what he had learned.

"I sure am, but hand over that scroll so I can check if you are doing the technique right." Mizuki held out his hand, mentally patting himself on the back.

"Sure!"

Iruka watched the exchange in growing horror. If it had only been Mizuki he would not have been afraid to tackle the man as they were more or less even in skill level. But the scar faced man was wary of the man Mizuki had brought with him. The man in black had a Jonin vest on, and being merely a Chunin, Iruka knew he had no chance at all physically so he decided to try tact.

"Mizuki what is the meaning of this!?" Iruka yelled forcefully at his so called friend.

Mizuki's smile did not leave his face as he spoke, "I am just offering a way for my student to graduate."

"This is serious Mizuki! You made them steal the Forbidden Scroll! The whole village is in an uproar looking for it!"

Arashi and Naruto looked at each other in fear then back at Mizuki. "Is this true Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked, hugging the scroll tighter to himself.

"Yes it is Naruto. But if you hand over that scroll now then I can give Arashi my forehead protector as a bonus." Mizuki said casually.

Naruto looked back at Arashi unsure. "So he will graduate if I give you the scroll?"

"Naruto don't listen to him!" Iruka shouted.

"Yes Naruto, he will graduate. But after you give me that scroll, I will leave the village with Osamu here." Mizuki said as he pointed to his companion. "Actually, how would you like to come with me?"

The blonde looked up in surprise. "Iruka-sensei said this scroll belongs to the village. And as a Konoha Genin I should not let you take it! And what reason do I have to go with you! Why do you want it anyway?!" Naruto yelled defensively, slowly backing away from his sensei.

"Orochimaru-sama gave us an order to retrieve that scroll Naruto as it has something he wants." Mizuki explained, feeling no need to with hold the information.

"You're doing this for that traitorous snake!" Iruka growled in anger. "Don't do it Naruto! Mizuki is already a traitor to this village for following that monster!"

"Hush now Iruka, don't talk about Orochimaru-sama like that. As I was saying Naruto, you are free to come with us after you hand over the scroll." Mizuki offered again.

"B-but I'm a Konoha shinobi now, going with you will also make me a traitor!" Naruto yelled back.

Mizuki scoffed. "Don't tell me you see this place as your home Naruto. I've seen how the villagers look at you. Everyone here hates you. They don't sell you anything, they ignore you and when they do notice you it's because they want to hurt you or even kill you. At the Academy most of us were even ordered by the civilian council itself to prevent you from learning anything, come to think of it they didn't even want you to enter! All because of something you had no control over! Do you know why they hate you Naruto?" Mizuki ignored Iruka's startled outburst.

"Mizuki that's an S-ranked secret! Don't you dare tell him."

"Or what?" Mizuki sneered back. "I'm leaving anyway and that's already more than enough reason for them to kill me. Naruto, the Yondaime couldn't kill the Kyubi no Kitsune. Instead he sealed it in you! You hold within you the demon that attacked this village on the day that you were born! How unfortunate for you to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is why this village hates you, they fear its power and you have become their scapegoat with no more Kyubi to blame! There's nothing keeping you here in this pitiful place. But with Orochimaru-sama, everyone will love you. With your power you can be praised and we will respect you for your power! Not some demon brat these foolish people refuse to have anything to do with. Not the brat they don't want their kids to go near in fear of losing them. There with Orochimaru-sama you will start anew, as Naruto Uzumaki. What do you say? Come with us Naruto. Come with us and be respected, is that not what you want?" Mizuki held his hand out towards Naruto. The white haired man smiled when Naruto took an uncertain step towards him, and then another.

Naruto's head was swelling with emotions. Confusion, fear, anger and sadness were running rampant in his mind. He knew he held the Kyubi and he knew that they hated him for it. But hearing it said straight to his face was a harsh slap that brought him back to reality. He looked towards Mizuki's smiling face, a promise of a better life and compared it with what he got almost every single day of his life in Konoha. The blue eyed boy slowly made his way to Mizuki and would have gone on if not for a caring hand on his shoulder that stopped him. Naruto turned around to stare into the eyes of his cousin. Arashi's face was serious and sincere for once.

"Don't listen to him Naruto. I know the villagers here hate you. I knew about the Kyubi before I entered the academy and I don't care. Kaede and Akane don't care either. To us you are already Naruto Uzumaki. Don't we mean anything to you? What about the others? Sasuke, Itachi and Mikoto are practically your surrogate family now! Then there's Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru and Chouji? Even Lee! What about Iruka sensei, Teuchi and Ayame at Ichiraku's? What about the Sandaime? We all care for you Naruto. We all need you here. Who cares if the village hates you? We will stay by your side no matter what they say and you have no right to abandon us to go with traitors." Arashi spoke, letting his emotions get through to his confused cousin, hoping that the blonde Uzumaki would see sense and realize that there were people who cared about him too much. Iruka took the opportunity to also place hand on Naruto's other shoulder.

"It's true Naruto. You will hurt many people if you leave. And you cannot trust Mizuki. You have already seen how he has fooled you once already by making you steal this scroll. What proof does he have that Orochimaru and his men will love you? The snake experiments with his own men and children to find answers. What's to stop him from doing it to you?" Iruka added, voice growing cold towards Mizuki as he glared at his so called 'friend'.

"Naruto, the offer is still open. Come with us now before anyone else comes to try and stop us."

Naruto looked back and forth between Arashi and Mizuki before steeling his resolve and glaring at Mizuki. "No! I have people who care for me here! And I've had enough of your lies Mizuki!" Naruto yelled forcefully, gripping the scroll tighter. The smile dropped from Mizuki's face and formed into a scowl as his face hardened. "Fine then! I was trying to get this done peacefully but I guess that won't work out will it? You boy are coming with us whether you like it or not and that scroll is as good as ours as well!" The white haired man snarled viciously, getting into a battle stance.

Iruka turned to the boys. "Both of you listen. I want you to both run away from here now and get help but keep that scroll safe!"

"But…"

"Naruto there's no time! The faster you go get help the better! I do not want to see you fight here and that is final now go!" Iruka ordered.

"As if we'll let you! Osamu, get them!" Mizuki cried as he charged Iruka head on.

Osamu pulled down his hood to reveal a battle hardened face that was smirking in pleasure. "No problem Mizuki." He replied in a deep voice as he watched both boys leap into the trees to start running. He pushed chakra to his feet to increase his speed as he started rushing towards the boys and he quickly caught up with them.

Meanwhile, Mizuki and Iruka were engaging each other in an open Taijutsu battle. Mizuki had opened with a left hook for Iruka's face and the scar faced chunin ducked under it and attempted a right hand counter which Mizuki swatted away before bringing up his heel to try and back heel Iruka. The white haired traitor felt his leg get caught in a grip and was pushed back before returning with his other foot in a roundhouse kick which Iruka blocked before getting in a clean shot at Mizuki's solar plexus. Mizuki reeled back clutching his stomach in pain.

"Why are you doing this Mizuki? What happened." Iruka asked, desperate for an answer.

This added fire to Mizuki's temper. "Why!? Are you seriously asking me 'why' Iruka!?" Mizuki yelled. "I was the better of us two ever since we were young! I was smarter and more skilled! But for some reason you took all that attention away from me! People chose you for everything! It was always Iruka this, Iruka that gahhh!" Mizuki yelled pulling his hair.

Iruka looked surprised. "Mizuki I thought we were friends? I never knew you felt like this!"

Mizuki laughed heartlessly. "Friends? Seriously? I stopped being friends with you ever since the day you took the attention I deserved! I only stayed with you because otherwise I would be nothing! How do you think it feels like knowing you are better but you are dwarfed in the shadow of someone inferior? They even let you enter the academy before I did saying you were more 'suited' than I was!"

"Mizuki I…"

"Shut up! It won't matter anyway once you are dead!" Mizuki screeched wildly before launching himself at Iruka with a kunai in his hands. Iruka barely managed to raise his own kunai in time to parry Mizuki's downward slash.

After that it was a matter of strength pushing and Iruka realized he was slowly losing. All that teaching in the academy and he realized that he hadn't even been paying attention to his physical condition and Mizuki was obviously the stronger of the two. The scar faced chunin pulled away quickly causing Mizuki to momentarily stumble forward. Iruka took the saw a chance and tried to swipe at Mizuki's face. Mizuki saw this and decided to tumble forward and as he regained his footing he leapt upwards and punched Iruka powerfully in the gut. The follow up stab into the stomach was halted when he received a direct punch to his jaw line and Mizuki stumbled backwards.

Iruka pressed the advantage and kneed Mizuki in the stomach causing him to double over before receiving a powerful uppercut that snapped his neck backwards.

Mizuki was slightly disoriented for a while but managed to regain his bearings just in time to catch a punch Iruka had sent straight for his face. Mizuki then used Iruka's momentum to slash his rival across the stomach before attempting a reverse roundhouse kick that connected viciously with Iruka's chest and sent him careening towards a tree where Iruka's head slammed powerfully against the rough tree trunk. Iruka slowly slid down the tree and sat on the ground while Mizuki cracked his jaw.

"See this Iruka. I was ALWAYS better than you. Goodbye!" Mizuki said happily as he took the large fuma shuriken off his back. Mizuki then proceeded to throw the large shuriken straight towards his wounded colleague and watched in anticipation before chanting, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" The single shuriken then split to a horde of about twenty oversized spinning weapons that offered no chance for Iruka to escape. Not that he could move anyway. The scar faced chunin flinched when he felt the deep wound in his stomach and could only close his eyes and wait for his end, hoping Naruto and Arashi had gotten away. He didn't have many regrets.

 **"Barricade!"**

A fierce shout was yelled as a black structure moved to stand in front of Iruka, absorbing all the damage from the onslaught of shuriken. Which wasn't that much actually considering the armour that the machine was equipped with. It slowly looked up to glare at Mizuki with glowing blood red eyes that were ringed with orange.

"You will not hurt Iruka sensei Mizuki." It stated in a harsh demonic voice as Osamu leapt down next to Mizuki smirking.

"So he's finally letting his powers show, ne Mizuki?" Osamu stated excitedly with a hungry grin on his face. _'I wonder how my armour will fare against his?'_ Osamu thought to himself.

Arashi rejoined his blonde cousin to stand protectively in front of Iruka while the white haired man started laughing. "And what will you two do? Naruto is a prodigy yes but that is why I brought this man here." Mizuki gestured to Osamu. "He is more than capable of taking out little boys like you."

"Naruto, Arashi, run!" Iruka groaned weakly from the tree.

"No Iruka sensei, we are not cowards. And we can beat this traitor and his friend." Arashi growled determinedly.

"How will you do that boys? Especially you, you red haired dobe?" Osamu felt obliged to ask, genuinely amused.

"Like this, Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled out as a single shadow clone appeared next to him grinning.

Mizuki and his partner face faulted. "With a Kage Bunshin!? Seriously kid, we know your clones and yourself have armour, but what difference will a single Kage Bunshin make?" Osamu asked skeptically.

The two then saw the clone grin. "Like this. Bumblebee!" the clone cried out and the spectators all looked on in amazement as the clone successfully transformed into another version of Naruto's power. Now they were faced with both a yellow and black beings they had never even seen before and both had orange lining in their respective blue and red, pupil less eyes that signaled Tsuihogan had already activated.

"He's not the only one! Tajuu Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Arashi cried out as over a hundred solid copies of the red haired boy littered the trees and surrounded the two men who stunned at the sheer mass of shadow clones the Genin had produced. Not even Jonin could do such a thing! "Naruto, I think it's time for you to show Mizuki you new technique." Arashi said sneakily, gaining the interest of the attackers.

Both Mizuki and Osamu's eyes widened in horror when they saw the two deadly robots rapidly increase in size. "How do you guys like this? My own Baika no Jutsu! (Multi-size technique)" Naruto laughed as his robot bodies towered to a height of sixteen feet.

Orochimaru's men set grim expressions on their faces when they realized the weight of the situation they were in. Mizuki knew that the robots were already powerful enough at human size. With the added size of the Baika no jutsu, that strength and power increased drastically as well.

"I'm surprised you got it to work Naruto." Arashi exclaimed, also in awe at Naruto's new ability. Hearing things was different from seeing it with your own eyes after all.

The robots looked somewhat sheepish in a way as they answered back. "Chouji and I only managed to finish it a week ago, but I think it works fine as you can see. I can keep my transformations in this size for hours." Barricade informed his now much smaller cousin.

* * *

(Flashback-A Week Ago-Training Ground Twenty Three)

"Gahh Chouji! Am I doing this right? We've been doing this for like two days already!" Naruto groaned as he pulled his hair in frustration.

"I'm not really sure Naruto, we Akimichi find it somewhat natural to increase our size, even if I can only do the Bubun Baika no jutsu right now. By the way, I think you know that this is hidden clan secret usually so I could get in trouble for trying to teach you this." Chouji replied in slight fear as he nervously chomped on his packet of crisps.

"I know Chouji, and thank you for helping me with this, you are probably the only one that can." Naruto explained gratefully.

"But you still haven't even told me why you are trying to do this Naruto? What makes you so sure you can do our clan technique? Maybe you should just go and practice with Sasuke and Itachi over there; they look like they know what they're doing." Chouji suggested, pointing over at where Naruto's Uchiha brothers were training in the clearing.

Naruto looked over at them. 'I'm sure I can do this or Kurama and Optimus wouldn't keep pushing me about this.' Naruto scowled to himself. "Nah Chouji. Itachi-Nii-chan is training Sasuke in Genjutsu right now. You know that Genjutsu doesn't really work on me for some reason and I am kind of hopeless in casting them, Itachi-Nii-chan said I didn't have the focus." Naruto pouted.

Then again, he had already had training in Genjutsu from Itachi before. His default older brother was teaching them how to recognize and dispel illusions but they discovered that when Naruto had his Tsuihogan open, he wasn't affected one bit by Itachi's Genjutsus and therefore didn't need to break them. In short he was immune to most sorts of high level genjutsu already so Itachi figured that he went and find something else to do for a while as he trained Sasuke.

"Ok Naruto, just like I said before. Try gathering chakra under your skin and try pushing it out. For us Akimichi we can usually transform our extra calories directly into chakra to help us with growing in size. I'm not sure how it works for you though." Chouji added.

"No problem Chouji, I'll find a way. I already know how to gather chakra, I just need a way to build it up you know." Naruto replied, concentrating. He felt the chakra underneath his skin steadily growing and decided to distribute the building pressure along the rest of his body to even it out before he started building it up more and pushing it out. He immediately knew something was wrong when the energy was released but he stayed the same size. He blinked his eyes open in confusion to look at a surprised Chouji. "Oi Chouji, what happened?" Naruto asked curiously. Only something really surprising or shocking would stop Chouji while he was eating.

Itachi and Sasuke leapt down beside Chouji. "Naruto, what did you do? What was that?" Itachi asked, looking between both boys for answers.

"I was building up chakra to try and grow like Chouji but I accidentally released it. I still don't know what happened. Did I disturb you Itachi-Nii-chan?" Naruto explained before asking his question.

Itachi put a hand under his chin while he thought things over. "That was a very large release of chakra Naruto, I could see it in a clear wave with my Sharingan. Aren't you tired from dispelling that much chakra?" Naruto shook his head. "Because that wave that you just made, it broke Sasuke here out of his Genjutsu."

Naruto and Chouji looked up slightly confused. "How come Itachi-Nii-chan? I thought it required disrupting the victims chakra… oh… so that's how." Naruto came to the realization as he was speaking. "So if I do that then I can break Genjutsus on those around me?" After a nod from Itachi Naruto yelled out and punched the air in joy. "Yatta! That's awesome. I'm so gonna… wait a minute." Naruto's face suddenly changed from excitement to one of thought. "Someone is hiding in those trees over there!" Naruto pointed at a point in the forest. "Come out! I know you're there!" He shouted out fiercely.

Itachi and Sasuke's eyes widened when they saw their mother laugh and jump down to walk towards them. "Naruto, how did you know Ka-san was over there?" Sasuke asked confused. "Me and Itachi didn't sense her there until just now."

The blonde shrugged. "I just felt like it. I somehow knew someone was there."

Mikoto came up. "I know how that happened Naruto and I think I should explain. Remember when you released your chakra? Well I think it helps you sense what's around you as well. You only realized where I was when that blue wave connected to me and disrupted my genjutsu and I think my presence reacted with your chakra and that's how you knew I was there. You're like a sensor ninja now Naruto."

Sasuke patted Naruto on the back. "Well done! Now you can be the sensor while I do all the fighting!"

Naruto growled back. "Teme! Who said sensor ninjas can't fight?"

Sasuke smirked back and stuck his tongue out. "I did."

Before the two could go any further Itachi turned to his mother to ask an interesting question. "Ka-san, why were you watching us?"

"Don't get the wrong idea Itachi, I normally watch over you three to make sure that you don't go too far. Since you are a rare prodigy you might be pushing your brothers a little too hard don't you think?" Mikoto asked innocently.

Itachi sweat dropped. "How can this be called going too far? I graduated the academy at six! They are twice my age already and they aren't even out of the academy yet!" Itachi explained clearly frustrated. "They should at least be as good as I was at that age!"

"Were you even listening to what I just said?" Mikoto asked slyly as the three children present snickered.

Itachi felt like he had just been slapped before he growled at the kids. "Enough of this, back to training all of you!" He mock snapped while Mikoto laughed. "Ka-san you can stay and watch since that's probably what you've been doing anyway."

"Hai Itachi-sensei!" Itachi heard his brothers chant as his eye twitched.

"Back to training, NOW!" He ordered as the three children stumbled back into position. "Naruto, are you planning on naming that move? You're maybe the only one who can be so care free like this about it due to your large chakra level. I recommend that the name should help describe what he jutsu does. Like how it feels when it pulses out of your body or how it looks like." Itachi suggested.

"Chakura Parusu no jutsu." (Chakra Pulse) Naruto said simply. "I'll call it Chakura Parusu." He took in the amazed faces of the people around him. "What?"

Itachi just looked away. "Come on Sasuke, and Naruto, no more Chakura Parusu for today if you can avoid it. You're not really helping Sasuke if you keep breaking it for him."

As the two leapt away to continue training in their previous spot, Mikoto went to assist her adopted son who was just about to prepare another wave of chakra. "Naruto, why don't you try to prevent the chakra from escaping?"

"I am, while I'm building it up I'm trying to keep it inside."

"Keeping it inside is different from stopping it from going outside. You are buying sheep in putting them all in one place. Sooner or later they will all just wander off. But if you build a fence around them, they will stay there as they do not have a way to get out." Mikoto explained.

Naruto's face brightened at the wisdom. "Aha! And I have just the way of doing that!" Naruto had realized that the black chakra present within him worked separately from his normal chakra and once it formed, chakra couldn't pierce it. That meant that it probably wouldn't let chakra out either. Naruto tensed his arm and waited for it to completely harden, signifying that the black chakra coat was completely around his arm before he started to build up the chakra in the arm like before and he watched with awe as his arm increased in size. Chouji stopped eating to stare with eyes almost as big as his face.

"That's just like my Bubun Baika no jutsu! Naruto you did it!" Chouji cheered as Mikoto smiled, glad she had been able to help.

"Yatta Chouji! Fist Bump time 'ttebayo!" Naruto yelled victoriously as Chouji's own arm expanded and the two boys punched their oversized limbs together. The resulting shockwave from the impact forced Mikoto a few feet back in surprise even though her feet were stuck to the ground with chakra. On the other side of the field however, a very unprepared Sasuke –who had been inside another Genjutsu- was sent flying into a tree while Itachi stumbled forward. When he regained his bearings, both he and Sasuke shared a glance before heading back to their other three companions.

"Naruto what have you done this time!?" Sasuke shouted angrily. "You threw me into a tree!"

"And I believe I told you not to help him out of the Genjutsu." Itachi said sternly.

Sasuke glared back at his brother. "Nii-chan this isn't about him breaking me out a genjutsu! He threw me into a tree!"

Itachi used his index and middle finger to poke Sasuke's forehead, silencing him. "Be quiet now little brother, you make too much noise." He silently laughed at the pouting face Sasuke made. "Now Naruto, what did you do?"

Naruto grinned. "Watch this! Bumblebee!" Naruto knew that his robot's armour was made mostly of the black chakra so it would serve the same purpose.

Sasuke looked at him blankly. "Um, Naruto. We knew you could do that."

"What about this?" he asked as he started building up his chakra. The onlookers watched in awe as the yellow robot began to grow. It topped out at sixteen feet and stared at its now miniscule companions. "Baika no Jutsu success." Bumble bee stated as it proceeded to try and step on Sasuke.

* * *

(Flashback End)

The multiple clones of Arashi started laughing. "Man you guys should get a look at your faces 'ttebayo!" one clone cried out.

Mizuki and Osamu shared a grim look. They needed the scroll and the Jinchuriki. But at this rate they would possibly need to call on their Cursed Seals and might attract the attention of the village to their dark chakra. But they did not have a choice. Either face the Torture and Interrogation Department of Konoha or answer a failed mission back to Orochimaru. The choice wouldn't be very hard if it came to that.

"Gah, I'm bored." Arashi sighed. "Time to liven it up a bit!" he then yelled as all his clones cascaded down towards Mizuki in a mob. The original onslaught easily separated Mizuki from his partner and the academy instructor began readily dispelling red headed clones one after the other. But more just came to take their place.

Osamu, Bumblebee and Barricade watched as Arashi's fight slowly moved away from them. When their eyes met again Osamu smirked. "You should just give up boy. Mizuki will finish your stupid cousin in no time and I am a Jonin of Otogakure. I am also part of Orochimaru's Guardian Five along with my other four brothers! You do not stand a chance against me. If you do not want to get hurt then just come along!"

Inside the two giant robots Naruto inwardly sighed. 'So this is the superiority complex Itachi warned me about. Oh well, better make the most of it.'

Bumblebee slowly picked up Iruka and placed him behind one of the large trees without saying a word. Once he was sure Iruka was safe, Bumblebee rejoined Barricade and they looked at each other. Osamu watched as the two spilt up, one heading for his left and one heading for his right. He noticed the ground shaking slightly with each step.

"This has certainly become interesting boy, can you keep up? **Doton: Hosuku Sa Reta Yoroi!** (Earth Release: Entrapped Armour) Barricade and Bumblebee watched Osamu as the earth around him began merging around his body, compressing itself so that more earth could fit. In three seconds, Osamu was covered head to toe in highly compressed rock with a small crater around him from where he obtained the earth.

Osamu started channeling chakra to his feet in preparation to start moving fast. The armour he could easily repair under a heavy hit but that would take time, it would be better if he couldn't be hit at all. Orochimaru's personal guard ducked under a thrown tree that toppled another one behind him. _'Ok, side note to self: Try not to get hit by anything he throws.'_

Osamu started running quickly. Leaping, ducking and sidestepping were all vital to him for the next few minutes as oversized chunks of land and trees were thrown towards him at breakneck speed, crashing destructively behind him. _'Maybe he'll tire out soon.'_ Osamu thought hopefully as he evaded a downward punch from Barricade that obliterated the ground he had been standing in a moment ago. _'Then again maybe not.'_

He rolled out of the way of another thrown boulder and was slightly surprised when the barrage of debris abruptly stopped. Osamu became wary when he saw the two robots looking at each other and grew even more suspicious when Barricade nodded. The black robot then snatched up a tree in one hand and used his other arm to tear up the ground underneath him to pick up a large boulder. Barricade then tossed said chunk of rock upwards while carrying the tree like a baseball bat.

Osamu found it ironic when he used the tree in said manner. The rock came back down to earth only to be slammed into dozens of smaller pieces by the tree. The tree shattered on impact with the oversized rock but that wasn't Osamu's main concern. The smaller rocks travelling towards him were far faster than before and covered a larger area. Then he heard something that scared him if even just a little. **"Fuuton: Reppushou!"** (Wind Release: Gale Palm)

The boulders travelling towards him were given an immense boost by the powerful gust of wind and Osamu had no time to avoid the new set of incoming projectiles as they impacted against his armour powerfully, cracking it. Osamu was new to this level of pain. With his armour he had never really met anyone powerful enough to hurt him. This kid would surely force him to use the curse seal if he didn't find a way to defeat him anytime soon.

Osamu stood up a little shakily and glared at the two giants who stared back at him curiously and silently. Osamu would never admit it but those pupil less blue and red eyes that were ringed with orange were terrifying. They showed no emotion. All of a sudden he felt a small surge of power wash over him from Mizuki's fight. A quick glance showed Mizuki transformed into the first state of his animal cursed seal. Not good. Osamu sighed and got ready to face Naruto as he activated the first level of his own cursed seal.

Mizuki cursed. He was much, much better than Arashi when it came to Taijutsu but his skill advantage was quickly negated by the sheer number of clones that he was up against. He ducked under a punch and delivered a powerful chop to the clone's neck immediately dispelling it. He then caught a kick heading for his face and swung the red haired boy straight into another of the clones dispelling both.

Mizuki leapt backwards to avoid a powerful axe dropkick from another clone and he tossed a kunai at its head to dispel it. The white haired man then turned backwards to backhand another clone right in the jaw when he felt his back sting from a slash by a kunai. Mizuki growled and kicked the clone in the chest before grabbing his own kunai to parry another swipe. He sidestepped and the clone that was supposed to impale him from behind shot forward into the other clone, impaling it instead. Mizuki added to the clone's momentum by kicking it square in the rear and sent it crashing into a tree. He was forced to leap up to avoid a sweep kick and stomped violently on the clone's face before delivering a powerful haymaker to another clone.

Mizuki then howled in pain when a kunai embedded itself into his calf. Out of the corner of his eye Mizuki spotted a blur and barely raised his own kunai in time to deflect the shuriken headed for his throat. He then received a viscious slash across the shoulder from another clone which he immediately punched with his free arm. Then as if by some hidden signal all the red haired clones began throwing the multitude of their equipment at the white haired man who was doing his best to dodge the onslaught of shuriken and kunai with and injured leg and shoulder. He silently thanked Kami that the kid wasn't very accurate in his throws.

After around an intense minute of dodging and parrying kunai the barrage of weaponry seized. Mizuki dropped to one knee panting. Four shuriken were imbedded in his thighs and six kunai had found their way to his back. The red haired clones held back for a bit to see what would happen which proved to be a mistake when Mizuki grew at least two more feet and his muscle stature rapidly expanded to that of a large body builder. They watched as his wounds all healed while his shirt and pants were ripped apart and the now gigantic man stood to his full height and roared in a more animalistic way now before he fixed the killer look in his eyes towards the swarm of clones. Some of the green eyed boys gulped audibly before charging in again.

Osamu delighted in his power surge. He felt his muscles expand as power coursed through his chakra network. The armour around him grew as well and began feeding itself more earth to form and even bigger and stronger armour around its user who was now laughing maniacally. Osamu then watched in confusion as the two large robots did not seem to care. He gave them a questioning glance when they put their hands in a seal before he was horrified at what the robots said next. **"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Osamu could only survey the area when the smoke cleared to see around a thousand clones of the blonde boy. 'Wait, why are they in normal form? Shouldn't they be robots as well?' Osamu asked himself mentally. He waited patiently for them to transform before he allowed a smile to grace his features. "You can't make them transform can you?" Osamu almost laughed when he saw some of the clones twitch their eyes. "I'm guessing you can only use those two at a time. Hehehe how unfortunate for you boy."

Barricade decided to speak for the first time since the fight started. "That is true. But one thousand hardened clones of me are still powerful, remember, they have their own armour and Tsuihogan with them so it's going to be pretty hard for you to dispel. And they sure pack a punch."

Osamu then noticed that the clones were all smirking at him. "Oh just great, I had to taunt him didn't I. Good job Osamu." He hissed under his breath.

"Charge!" Barricade ordered as the horde of blonde clones charged forward.

 **"Doton: Muchiuchi!"** (Earth Release: Whiplash) Osamu yelled as his right arm turned into a long tendril of compressed earth over fifteen feet long. The whip moved insanely fast and delivered hits with a loud crack that resounded through the forest. True to his word, the clones were indeed very difficult to dispel. The few times that he did hit them with them whip, he only seriously dented the bodies of the clone. At least the injured clones took a while to heal.

 _'This isn't good. I'm only keeping them at bay. If they think for a minute then…'_ he didn't get to finish his line of thought as he barely moved out of the way before another boulder crashed down where he was and then he leapt up in the air to avoid a tree that Bumblebee was using as a base ball bat. He thought he saw an opening at the giant's head and took the shot. **"Doton: Hikou Yari!"** (Earth Release: Flying Spear) The five foot long javelin went dead straight for Bumblebee's face but the yellow robot simply dropped its visor over its face and the spear crumbled upon impact.

Osamu swore before pushing chakra to his legs to make another mad dash to make a bit of distance in between him and the one man army behind him. Osamu then turned abruptly. " **Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) A large rock roughly the size of Bumblebee shot towards a group of clones that went up in a puff of smoke, much to the shock of Naruto and all the other clones.

Osamu grinned. _'So slashing and piercing don't work on the clones but apparently a large enough impact can dispel them. Well then, I have the perfect things for this.'_ **"Doton: Asshuku Sa Reta Chikyuu-Kaba Shirudo!"** (Earth Release: Compressed Earth-Covering Shield) A large, smooth oval shield the size of Osamu himself almost covered the man head to toe as it hung of his left arm. He then held out his other arm. **"Doton: Asshuku Sa Reta Chikyuu–Hanmaa Meisu!"** (Earth Release: Compressed Earth–Hammer Mace) A large war hammer then manifested itself in the eight foot tall man's right hand. The hammer was roughly four feet long at the handle and had sharpened spikes meant to impale on both ends. The war hammer also had massive spikes on either end of its large heads.

Osamu gave the deadly weapon a few swings until he was satisfied with how easily he could wield it. With a guttural roar the armoured man charged into the clone horde, his massive shield absorbing the damage on one side with the hammer easily dispelling the clones on the other, no matter how much protection they received from the black chakra.

Osamu even found the time to laugh as he crushed the clones. Yes, he was using far more power than he thought he needed to defeat this kid, but at least he was having fun. This was way too easy. Then it hit him, this was far too easy. What happened to the two oversized robots that were giving him hell? Osamu then heard thundering footsteps heading towards him and turned to see Barricade rushing towards him. _'Ah, that's where they went.'_ **"Doton: Zen'nou Suramu!"** (Almighty Slam) A large rock roughly the same size as his previous boulder hovered above the forest and waited. Once Barricade was right under it, Osamu gave the command to drop the large piece of Earth, he even accelerated its fall towards its target. Barricade however, didn't even seem fazed and simply stopped to look up at the landmass above him. He cocked his fist back and let loose a punch that shattered the large rock upon impact, scattering its debris all around.

Osamu didn't hesitate to send another attack directly after, **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** This time Osamu even doubled the size of the massive boulder and sent it flying straight towards Barricade. This proved to be a very bad idea however when Barricade retaliated. **"Fuuton: Fujin no iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind God's Breath) An even more powerful gust of wind was then released from Barricade's mouth which sent the oversized projectile back at its creator who could only raise his shield as he was struck by his own technique. Upon impact he was sent flying in the opposite direction as his shield cracked. After going through several trees he came to an abrupt stop. Osamu stood up quickly to get his bearings but was too late to avoid his jaw's sudden meeting with Bumblebee's heavy fist and he was quickly sent back the way he came. _'So that's where the other one went.'_ Osamu thought absently while he was soaring.

The Oto jonin skidded across the forest ground until he came to a stop. Osamu looked up at the canopy of the trees for a moment, letting himself recover a little. This proved to be a mistake when Barricade eagerly slammed a tree trunk right above him. Without his armour, Osamu could freely say that he should have been crushed. But he had a feeling that if he was crushed, Orochimaru would probably just revive him again to scold him before laying him on an experiment table. Nope. He could do without that. With new determination, he stood up quickly and ducked under a right hook thrown in by Barricade and rolled to the side before Bumblebee's foot crushed him.

Osamu then had to go through the experience of his shield getting smashed in front of him again. When he finally skidded to a stop he found himself in another face off with the two giants. One would have thought he would have learned his lesson by now that focusing on only one opponent was a very bad idea..

 **"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

 **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"**

Osamu turned around to literally see a large wall of fast moving weapons heading straight for him. 'Damn it, I can't repair my shield in time!' **"Doton: Hogo Doumo!"** (Earth Release: Protective Dome)

A small dome of earth erupted from around him and completely incased Osamu as all the incoming projectiles bounced off harmlessly. When it was over Osamu leapt straight out of the dome yelling, "I have had it with you pests! **Doton: Iwa no Ame!"** (Earth Release: Rock Rain) Almost immediately, a great number of rocks the size of full grown men began raining down destruction on the clone horde and puffs of smoke were sent up all around. Osamu looked over at the remaining clones before releasing his next technique to finish them off.

 **"Doton: Jishin Hakushu!"** (Earth Release: Seismic Clap) The surrounding forest shook from the ground tremor when Osamu clapped his hands together, causing trees to topple over around him. The clones that survived the falling debris were given no mercy by the shockwave that blasted them heavily through the air before successfully dispelling them.

Osamu surveyed the destruction he had caused around him. That last move should have taken out all those clones. He then watched as underneath a particularly large pile of trees, the trunks were shifted from below. This revealed Bumblebee and Barricade slowly getting the logs of themselves as they glared at the man. The fact that they did not even seem injured was worrying for Osamu. "It looks like I will have to use the second level of my cursed seal after all. Orochimaru-sama is going to kill me for this." Osamu sighed tiredly as he activated the next stage of his seal.

The armour around him previously crumbled as it was slowly pushed apart by Osamu's growing mass. Osamu grew to a height of slightly over twelve feet, bringing him now only four feet shorter than Bumblebee and Barricade. His muscle mass also increased to that of a giant and he screamed as his skin stretched to accommodate all of the extra volume. The most noticeable part of his morphing however, was that he grew two more heavily muscled arms under his two existing ones giving him the appearance of a four armed beast.

 **(See Goro from Mortal Kombat for a better description.)**

Osamu let loose a powerful roar that shook the small clearing the fight had already created before he started laughing maniacally. He once again summoned his own powerful armour before cracking his neck. "Ah well, now I know why I miss this power. Now let's spice things up a little shall we?" He asked rhetorically. **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."** He breathed out as an exact replica appeared next to him. "And now we're even."

The two large robots gazed back, opting not to comment at all. Instead, Bumblebee's face visor went over his face as Barricade allowed mace of sorts to manifest itself in his right arm. Osamu noticed this and smirked. "Ooh, the big boy's got a weapon! Well I've got one too! **Doton: Asshuku sa Reta Chikyuu-Hanmaa Meisu!"** (Earth Release: Compressed Earth–Hammer Mace) Osamu laughed gleefully as his war hammer grow in his top right arm. It was now more than twice its previous size and seemed to have more leverage. Both Osamu and his clone stared at the other two robots. "Well then, I guess it's time to dance…"

* * *

(Meanwhile)

"Stop it Arashi!" Mizuki yelled in frustration. Even in the first stage of his cursed seal he couldn't do anything against the multitude of clones that wouldn't stop coming his way. Yes, he was bigger. Yes, he was so much stronger. But the damn red headed brats kept on coming at him. One after the other. "Come and fight like a shinobi Arashi!" The white haired man yelled again as he got cut across the back by another kunai. With a roar he turned and punched the clone into oblivion. "Gaaahhhhh!" Mizuki honestly felt like pulling his own hair out as another clone managed to land a kick at the side of his head. _'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to teach this kid proper Taijutsu stances. They're not worth much, but whenever he gets lucky he really kicks hard!'_ Mizuki berated himself.

The real Arashi however was sitting next to Iruka. While his clones had been fighting, the original had stayed by Iruka's side and had managed to wrap a bandage around Iruka's mid section in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The green eyed boy was currently in his first celestial gate. The 'Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' was starting to take its toll on him and the only way to keep the clones coming was to open his gates for more access to chakra. He and Iruka shared a glance every time they felt the ground slightly shake as Naruto had moved his own fight with the Oto jonin far away from them but they could still feel the effects of the jutsus being used. They barely heard powerful smashes in the distance but it was enough to know that the fight was still ongoing.

All of a sudden a very dark and vile chakra made itself present from where Naruto and the Oto jonin were. They heard Mizuki start laughing. "So Osamu has decided to that loose. Naruto must really be giving him a hard time. Oh well, if he's free to use it then so am I." Mizuki stated. Iruka and his red haired student watched as Mizuki grew even larger than before. They also watched in awe as his skin started growing white, orange and black hair and they quickly realized that he was taking the appearance of an over grown tiger. "Hahaha Arashi! What will you do now?" Mizuki taunted.

Iruka nodded his consent to Arashi, "I don't think you can kill him with a hard shot now."

Arashi nodded before opening his third gate. **"Ten no Mon rirīsu: Dai san gēto!"** (Celestial Gate Release: Third Gate.) "How's this Mizuki!?" Arashi yelled as he focused the chakra to his fist. He then used his now further enhanced speed to dash towards his 'sensei' in a blur and slugged him as hard as he could under the jaw. The large humanoid form of Mizuki was sent flying through several trees before rolling to a violent stop against a rock. Arashi could have cheered happily when he saw Mizuki returning to normal. The Uzumaki then created a two clones that picked up Mizuki a leg each and dragged him back to Iruka.

"Ok Iruka-sensei. Mizuki is taken care of. Let's go find Naruto." Arashi said as he lent his hand down to help Iruka up.

The scar-faced chunin looked at him for a moment and grunted in pain as he stood, clutching his stomach. Arashi draped one arm over his shoulders to help support Iruka's weight and together they made their way to the sounds of the heavy duty fighting up ahead as Mizuki was dragged along behind them.

Not too much time later they started seeing the beginnings of the fight. "Oh Kami…" Iruka gasped. His eyes only widened more as they went further down the destructive trail.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

Hiruzen sighed again deeply. Was one day free from work - and all the problems that came with it – too much to ask? And now the Forbidden Scroll had been stolen. How it had happened he had no idea. The scroll had been in one of the deeper chambers of the hokage residence so how could it have been taken that easily?

The Sandaime had already sent out squads to try and intercept or catch up to whoever had stolen the scroll. Most of them had already gone beyond the borders of Konoha in search of a trail.

Suddenly Mikoto and Hiashi shunshined into his office. "Hokage-sama! There are reports of a large scale battle occurring near training ground thirty two!" Mikoto reported urgently.

"ANBU are already at the scene but are unsure of whom to apprehend Hokage-sama. They reported monsters of a sort going all out and using Jutsus. Can you aid us here Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked.

"Give me a moment, I'll just check through the crystal ball. It can see anything within the village."

The other two sweat dropped. "You had that all along and you didn't think to use it the second you found the scroll was missing!?" Mikoto exclaimed in alarm.

The Hokage grinned sheepishly. "Well, I did say numerous times that I was getting too old for this." Hiruzen joked. "Anyway, back to business."

What they saw in the crystal ball after Hiruzen activated it froze them in place. "I-Is that Naruto!?" Hiashi shouted. "And what the hell is he fighting!" Hiashi added uncharacteristically.

They watched in growing horror as the man started growing two extra arms along with the heavy muscle mass building up. "How could this get any worse?" Hiruzen asked silently.

Mikoto scowled at their Hokage when they saw the four armed giant split into two revealing a second identical four armed beast with one now brandishing a giant, spiked sledgehammer. "You had to ask didn't you Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen shook himself out of his stupor. "Come on! We need to help Naruto fight that thing! My ANBU probably do not know the difference between Naruto and the other giants. Let's go assist now!" the aging Hokage ordered as he grabbed his staff and threw off the hokage robes to reveal his black ninja battle garb to the world. The Hyuga and Uchiha clan heads rushed after him as he leapt through the window.

* * *

(Back With The Transformers)

The original Osamu and the clone shared hysterical grins. "The one with the weapon is mine." The original pointed at Barricade with his war hammer.

Barricade gave his own weapon a test swing to check the versatility of his weapon before both he and Bumblebee fell into fighting stances. The original Osamu charged he pair and brought down his hammer in an axe chop which Barricade easily blocked by raising the weapon above his head. The two were locked in a struggle for control for a moment and were free to watch as the other Osamu leapt in between Bumblebee and Barricade to separate them and then began swinging his arms at once. Bumblebee was slowly being driven back by the wild swings of the four armed clone and was being forced to block as it was almost impossible to block all four arms at once.

The yellow robot held his ground and put up his arm to block a jab that was going straight for his face. Bumblebee was shocked when the fist connected. It hurt. He leapt back to take a look at his forearm and noticed that there was a large indent that was slowly healing.

"Ooh, so my second state cursed seal can hurt you huh! This is perfect!" Osamu's clone stated before rushing Bumblebee again, determined not to give the yellow robot time to heal. He was surprised when instead of moving back, Bumblebee charged straight for him and ducked after the initial punch only to catch the bottom left arm in his grip.

With one arm being held down, Osamu was forced to stop his follow up otherwise he would lose his footing. The yellow robot noticed this and powerfully kicked the clone's right leg with his own to spread the clone's legs even further. Bumblebee then ducked low as he spun around, still clutching Osamu's arm and elbowed Osamu with his left arm. He used the spinning momentum to help carry Osamu over him and his right arm left its grip on Osamu's only to connect with the four armed man's face next. This sent Osamu flying backwards as the armour on his face visibly cracked.

"Still very powerful hmm. This is going to be fun."

Barricade watched silently as Bumblebee fought. The real Osamu still had him in a stalemate with their weapons crossed. _'So he's strong enough to hurt me.'_ Naruto mused, _'I wonder who is stronger though.'_ Osamu noticed the stalemate and added his left arm to the war hammer that was pushing down on Barricade's mace to try and end it. In response, Barricade added his other arm to equalize the pressure.

Barricade's eyes widened when he noticed Osamu's bottom two arms running through hand signs as top two were occupied. **"Doton: Asu Supaiku!"** (Earth Release: Earth Spike) Barricade leapt backwards just as a sharpened rock appeared from the earth and impaled where he had been standing just a second before. Red eyes met hysterical, golden pupils that shone in the night. As if by some hidden signal, both giants rushed towards each other again.

Osamu sent a shot towards Barricade's head but was slightly caught off guard at how quickly Barricade blocked before following up his move and swinging the deadly looking mace at his mid section. Before it connected Osamu used his two bottom arms and managed to catch the attacking weapon, halting its swing and restricting Barricade's blocking ability. Bad idea. Before he could press the advantage Barricade used his grip on the weapon and lifted him way over the Decepticon's head. Osamu was brought in a full arc over the full height of Barricade. The height at which he was slammed from coupled with his increased weight brought back down to the ground in a very painful manner.

Even while bewildered however, he had the sense to roll over to the side to avoid a large metallic foot that threatened to crush his chest. Rolling a little further proved fruitful as the club like weapon Barricade had on his person obliterated the immediate ground in front of him. Osamu was barely able to get back up on his feet to block the same axe drop he had used on Barricade earlier. He easily blocked it but received a big boot to his chest, hurtling him backwards. Osamu shakily got up from quite a distance away and Barricade was patiently waiting for his next move. "Ouch…" Osamu muttered as he clutched his chest in pain, slowly reforming his cracked earth armour. He followed Barricade's gaze over to his clones battle with the yellow giant for a moment.

Meanwhile Bumblebee ran straight and speared the clone's midsection with his shoulder. As the yellow robot got up however he was hit by a kick from the still downed clone. Bumblebee stumbled backwards before steadying himself on the tree. Upon contact Bumblebee felt like mentally slapping himself. Why was he going hand to hand with something that had a two arm advantage over him? Bumblebee ripped out another chunk of earth and tossed it at the Osamu clone. **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind God's Breath) The oversized projectile shot towards Osamu who laughed at the effort.

"Are you an idiot? We both know what happens to stuff we throw at each other!" Osamu mocked as he smashed the boulder with an earth shattering punch. The smile was literally wiped off his face a moment later. After Bumblebee threw the rock he had followed close behind it as it had obscured him from Osamu's sight and when Osamu smashed the rock he had been right behind it and managed to slam the tree he had been carrying into the Oto jonin's face. _'Talk about environmental hazards.'_ Naruto mused silently.

Osamu roared and charged towards Bumblebee, blinded by rage from the pain. The yellow robot backed up a little to be just out of reach of a powerful hook that Osamu threw with both of his right arms simultaneously and backed up even further when he realized that Osamu didn't stop his momentum and carried on spinning towards him with arms swinging wildly. Bumblebee narrowly avoided a powerful spinning backhand before he felt a tree behind him, halting his backwards movement. _'Damn it!'_ Naruto thought as he saw another deadly hook following up. The yellow robot barely managed to duck forwards as the monstrous hook shattered the tree behind him. Bumblebee then rolled to the side as Osamu uprooted what was left of the tree with a kick.

Osamu hadn't been careful and Bumblebee saw an opening in his side and took it. Bumblebee's punch hit dead straight in the ribs. As Osamu recoiled from the shot the yellow robot followed up with a right hook that slipped through all the extra arms and slammed into the solar plexus of his opponent. Even through his beloved armour, the impact from each punch was devastating to Osamu. He turned to face Bumblebee only to receive a large, metallic fist to his lower jaw before the right hand collided head on with his face. Osamu was starting to see stars and could bet that he had a concussion after that last one. He was defenseless against a roundhouse kick that connected to his temple and was knocked back with a knee to the face.

In desperation as he stumbled, Osamu managed to dodge another kick and grabbed the Bumblebee's leg with his bottom two arms and sent the robot flying backwards with his own punch as he stopped to catch his breath. He needed a counter to make some space and only one thing came to mind at that moment. **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) Yes, the attack would be seen coming from a mile off but at least it would give him time.

Bumblebee saw the rock hurtling towards him and easily stepped to the side to avoid it. But all of a sudden an idea popped into his head and as the boulder passed by him, he grabbed it out of the air and started spinning on his feet due to the momentum of the rock. After twirling a bit to build up more momentum, the yellow prepared to toss it back at Osamu before something caught his eye in his slow motion world. Barricade was in trouble. Originally, Bumblebee intended to return the rock to its creator but it seemed a better use for it was available. After accurately timing the throw, he released the rock towards Barricade and helped it on its way, **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind God's Breath) Satisfied with his work he turned to face his original opponent. Bumblebee was alarmed to see that Osamu had now finished what looked to be a long set of hand seals and was already yelling out the move.

 **"Doton: Tsuin Kabe Sukasshu!** (Earth Release: Twin Wall Squash) Two large walls erupted from either side of Bumblebee. The corridor he appeared to be in was too long to run out in time and too high to jump. There was also next to no space to punch the walls. The worst part was that they were slowly moving together and based on the name, Naruto had a very good idea of what would happen. Bumblebee stuck out both his hands and started pushing as hard as possible to keep himself from becoming sandwiched any further by both walls. They stopped for a minute before Osamu started adding more chakra. Bumblebee heard his arms creak in protest under the heavy strain that was just getting harder and harder. At the end of the tunnel Osamu caught his eye and he started laughing. This frustrated the yellow robot even more and he would have grit his teeth if he had any.

Barricade had been caught off guard for a moment. After he and Osamu had resumed their fight he had slightly underestimated the smaller giant's speed and had received a lovely punch in the gut. To make matter worse he had slipped on the ground and his chest cavity was almost entirely caved in from a blow by the spiked war hammer. Barricade was very grateful that he had been thrown back by the blow as this prevented a consecutive blow from the deadly weapon. The Decepticon clutched its heavily damaged chest as it slowly repaired. The pain was almost unbearable.

Osamu watched his opponent get slowly get up and immediately noticed that he was moving a lot slower. _'Good, I can finally use this move.'_ **"Doton: Kuufuku Tochi!"** (Earth Release: Hungry Earth) He watched with glee as Barricade sunk up to his knees into the liquefied ground and noticed him thrashing around in the mud, slowly getting free. "As if I'll let you! **Doton: Asu Supaiku Meiro!"** (Earth Release: Earth Spike Maze) The ground around Barricade erupted with earth spikes of all sizes that interlocked over Barricade, trapping him with only the ability to move his head freely. The spikes had not been able to puncture him but were doing a very good job of trapping him down. The black robot could easily see how it would have been a maze for a smaller person but being his size, it was a strong restrainer. It was not unbreakable, but that would take time he did not have.

He could only watch as a snickering Osamu drew closer with his war hammer as he struggled against his temporary prison. At this rate he wouldn't be able to get out in time and Osamu had a jackpot shot at his exposed head. With a weapon like that spiked war hammer and Osamu's strength wielding it, it was not really hard to imagine the after effects of a blow to his head.

"Got you now!" Osamu snickered as he slowly walked closer. "I'm gonna love this!" He yelled as he charged towards Barricade. The Decepticon could only stare at him. What happened next almost made the black robot burst out laughing as it was so comical. As Osamu ran towards Barricade laughing maniacally, a large rock that looked similar to Osamu's own technique crashed into him and sent him flying. Upon looking to the source he saw a very familiar yellow robot giving him a thumbs up. If only he could grin, Barricade would have gladly done so. He simply settled for shaking his head in amusement. After freeing an arm he quickly managed to get himself out of his predicament by smashing the surrounding rocks. Who said brute force wasn't a good thing?

Barricade went over to where he dropped his mace and looked to where Osamu had been thrown. Orochimaru's guard was still down on the ground and was still making its way up. After a quick glance at Bumblebee, Barricade found an alarming sight.

The yellow robot looked like he was getting crushed by twin walls and Osamu's clone was smirking with his own hands locked in a seal. The real Osamu could wait. Barricade rushed toward his autobot comrade and closed the distance in a matter of seconds. Once he got in range he flung his mace at the clone Osamu and was delighted when there was a sickening crack and the clone was sent flying. He didn't stop his charge however and built up his momentum before he smashed his fist into one of the walls. The rock hard behemoth of rock foundation shattered upon impact and Bumblebee tumbled to the ground out of balance. Barricade offered a hand to his yellow partner and helped him back up.

Blue eyes met red and they turned to see that both Osamu had rejoined in the middle of the clearing. Barricade walked a little distance away to retrieve his hammer. When he returned the two groups faced off again and they all had a feeling that this was about to come to an end.

Both Osamu began making hand seals and combined the same jutsu together to make it more powerful.

 **"Doton: Iwa no Ame!"** (Earth Release: Rock Rain) Once again the massive boulders started raining down but the Transformers were not affected much and they stood to await the end of the jutsu. However, they were not expecting the immediate follow up during the solid rain.

 **"Doton: Kuufuku Tochi!"** (Earth Release: Hungry Earth) One of the clones shouted and Barricade had a sense of déjà vu as he and Bumblebee sank lower and lower into the ground. Both then looked skywards to the next technique that the original shouted. **"Doton: Zen'nou Suramu!"** (Almighty Slam) the original yelled as a huge rock formation formed above the two robots, ready to crash down upon them.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) the clone shouted out again as the same large boulder shot towards the two trapped robots.

"That's getting old." Bumblebee commented.

 **"Tamaishi Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** (Boulder Shadow Clone Technique)

"I should really keep my mouth shut." Bumblebee muttered as the boulder split into three.

"Their teamwork makes ours look kinda bad." Barricade grumbled. "Let's just deal with this." He added before using his mace to smash the giant rock that had been dropped on top of them.

Bumblebee rapidly formed hand seals and faced the three oncoming boulders. **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind God's Breath) The incredible gust of wind that shot from Bumblebee pushed against the incoming rocks with such force that they were hurled back to the direction they came. In other words, they were going to collide with their creators.

To defend themselves, the twin Osamu erected the only reliable barrier available at short notice. **"Doton: Doryuuheki!"** (Earth Release: Mud wall) The barrier that was raised from the ground was barely enough for the onslaught of the three flying boulders and fractured in many places.

During this time, Barricade and Bumblebee had managed to free themselves from the ground. Barricade handed over his mace to Bumblebee before picking up his yellow friend and throwing him will all his might towards what was left of the wall. Along with Bumblebee's power, the mace completely shattered what was left of the wall and the yellow robot immediately began swinging the mace at the Osamu without a weapon. At first the shots were being blocked with Osamu's massive arms. Soon however the pain proved to be too much for the clone that decided that dodging and countering were a much better way to fight off this threat.

As much as the original Osamu wished to assist his clone, he had his own issue to deal with. Such as the big, black robot with red eyes that was charging at him with a murderous look. Osamu swung his war hammer at Barricade's face only for the Decepticon to catch it by the handle and try to wrench it from his grasp. The battle for the weapon reached a stalemate with Osamu using all four of his arms to match the strength of Barricade's two arms.

Bumblebee was almost done with his duty. The clone's top two arms were hanging limp at the sides from the heavy beating that they had received while the other two arms were desperately trying to punch the autobot. Somewhere along the line, the clone had figured that it would be better to go on assault rather than defense seeing as the first strategy had already crippled him.

Bumblebee easily sidestepped a punch and brought Barricade's over sized mace to smash into the side of Osamu's head. The staggering clone received another fatal hit straight to the face as the armour around him fell apart. The yellow robot then tripped him onto his back. "Night night." Bumblebee teased before slamming the mace into the exposed clone's chest. The clone's eyes widened before turning into smoke.

The memories of his clone as it dispelled filled the real Osamu's head and the intense pain came in the form of a searing headache. This caused him to momentarily falter in his struggle against Barricade but that was enough. Barricade saw his chance and as he gripped the weapon with his left arm, he punched Osamu full force in the face.

In utter bewilderment, Osamu was sent flying backwards, trying to regain his bearings as he rolled painfully across the ground. Shaking his head he slowly stood up to glare at Barricade, finally finished sifting through his memories. When he caught sight of his war hammer in the Decepticon's grasp, Osamu saw read and roared loudly. He had accidentally let go of his weapon when the black robot had taken advantage of his momentary confusion.

Barricade saw Osamu lose his temper and got prepared for a berserk charge that didn't come. Just before Osamu charged, Bumblebee had managed to get behind him and deliver a powerful baseball bat hit to the back of Osamu's head with Barricade's mace. The four armed giant stumbled forward towards Barricade who then used Osamu's head as a golf ball for the war hammer and Osamu could only watched his own spiked hammer slam into his face and he was taken off his feet and landed painfully on his back. Before he could move again Bumblebee had already delivered another crushing blow to his face while Barricade used the war hammer to drive painfully into Osamu's chest. The armour the four armed beast had been so proud of was flying off in all sorts of directions and the last thing Osamu saw before he blacked out was the end of an oversized mace.

The two robots hammered away at the downed body of Osamu until they noticed the cursed seal retreating back into his body. Osamu began shrinking back down to his normal height and body structure while the two extra arms slowly shrank back into the prone, cloth less and battered body.

The two robots nodded to each other before shrinking as well. They deactivated their transformations to reveal two fully clothed Narutos. _'Thank Kami Aunty Yugiri finished this clothing seal.'_ They thought simultaneously. The clone then dispelled leaving an exhausted blonde haired Uzumaki in the middle of the devastated clearing. Before he collapsed next to Osamu, Naruto thought he saw people running towards him. 'Hopefully they aren't bad guys.' Naruto prayed. _'Kami knows I can't fight anymore.'_ Naruto thought before he blacked out.

When Naruto had fallen forwards it had been like a hidden signal that passed to Hiruzen and the two clan heads behind him to rush forward while they were flanked by the ANBU. They had arrived on the scene just in time to see Barricade break free from the 'Earth Spike Maze' and free Bumblebee from being crushed in between the two gigantic walls. They had held back a bit to watch the outcome and were relieved when Barricade and Bumblebee had successfully knocked the four armed giant out. They were alarmed however, when Naruto transformed back to the blonde, whiskered boy only to fall over into unconsciousness. "Naruto!" Hiruzen yelled as he saw the boy topple over.

Mikoto was at the boy's side in an instant, placing his head on her lap as she checked his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was done and felt the steady beat of the blonde boy's heart. "He's fine, just exhausted." She announced loudly.

"Thank Kami for that. I'm getting much too old for these surprises." Hiruzen groaned.

Hiashi on the other hand was prodding the prone body of Osamu as he scanned the body with his Byakugan. "We need to imprison this one in one of our strongest prisons and perhaps get the help of Yugiri-san for this one." Hiashi stated. "He has shown incredible strength and power and he may be able to break out of our chakra restriction cuffs. There is also some very vile and concentrated chakra on this seal in his neck. Most of it retreated back inside when Naruto knocked him unconscious." Hiashi added.

Hiruzen nodded in approval. "Cat, go summon Yugiri to the Hokage Tower and place the village on lockdown. We still do not know who has the scroll." The Sandaime ordered.

"That may no longer be necessary Hokage-sama." Iruka grunted as he and Arashi stumbled into the clearing, both showing signs of exhaustion and in Iruka's case, bleeding wounds.

"Iruka!" Hiruzen breathed out of his pipe. "What happened to you? And what do you mean searching for the scroll is unnecessary?" the hokage asked with worry.

The scar faced academy instructor unsealed the forbidden scroll from his pouch. "Because we managed to retrieve it Hokage-sama." Iruka replied with a pained gasp as he winced.

"Who did you retrieve it from?" Hiashi questioned. "This one over here was fighting with Naruto and he is currently the only outsider we know of currently in the village." The white eyed man pointed to the downed Osamu.

"We got it from a traitor working with that man. It was Mizuki." Arashi growled angrily at the name. The group turned to see two red headed clones dragging a white haired man out of the forest towards them. "That man tricked me and Naruto into stealing that scroll and almost convinced Naruto to go with them. If Iruka-sensei didn't come when he did then both Naruto and that scroll would probably be gone." The red haired Uzumaki reported.

Hiruzen nodded as he took in all this new information. "Cat, continue to summon Yugiri. Boar, get a medic for Iruka sensei and get him to the tower as well to treat Iruka. Everyone else, come with me to report." He decided. He turned to see Mikoto carrying Naruto in another direction. "Mikoto, where are you going? Don't you want to listen to the reports?"

The Uchiha clan head turned and glared at Hiruzen. "I can always read the written report later on Hiruzen. And I believe Naruto has already done his fair share for today. He will give his own report when he is ready." Mikoto stated firmly. "I will take him home now." She said before leaping away.

Hiruzen sighed. "Kami, troublesome women…" He muttered under his breath as he went on his way.

Someplace else in the village a certain pair of Nara's sneezed.

* * *

(In the Uchiha Main House)

Sasuke was kind of lonely at the moment, even if he wouldn't admit it. Naruto had gone off to try and cheer up Arashi after the Genin Exam results. Itachi was out of the village so he couldn't train. And then his mother had left when the Hokage summoned her to assist. It was something under the lines of a Konoha treasure being stolen and a manhunt had been initiated to try and capture the thief.

The young Uchiha had trained for a little while after she left but he could not find anything useful to be doing and had simply decided to sulk on the porch at being the only one in the family with nothing to do. And then he saw his mother leap down in front of the front door as she carried something in her arms. It wasn't very clear but it looked like a child with mop of spiky yellow hair. Sasuke shrugged and stood up. As he was dusting himself off something hit him. _'Yellow hair? The only boy I know with yellow hair is…'_ Sasuke's eyes widened as he rushed in after his mother.

"Naruto! Ka-san what happened? Who did this to him!?" Sasuke yelled in worry as he crashed in through the front door.

Mikoto put a finger to her lips before pointing at the door to the room the two boys shared. Sasuke got the message and opened the door to the room before pulling back the covers to Naruto's bed, allowing his mother to tuck his new younger brother into bed.

When Naruto felt something soft underneath him, his eyes snapped open. He was bewildered when he looked up to see a brown ceiling instead of the night sky and leapt out of bed with his Tsuihogan blazing a menacing orange. He then stared at the two familiar faces in confusion. Sasuke was looking at him in a worried manner while his adoptive mother raised a placating hand as she smiled. "Calm down Naruto. You're safe now."

"W-what happened?" Naruto asked shakily as he deactivated his doujutsu.

"You fell asleep after your fight from exhaustion Naruto. You're still tired so you might as well rest some more." Mikoto suggested in a motherly tone.

The blue eyed boy's hands dropped down to his sides tiredly. "Now that you mention it, I am pretty tired. Thanks for getting me home." Naruto answered as he slowly clambered onto the bed.

Sasuke however still had no idea whatsoever of what had just transpired. "Huh? Naruto? Fight? Tired?" The young Uchiha questioned dumbly.

Naruto turned to his brother. "Ah yes, you don't know yet. I have something new for you guys which I just recently found out. My friends on the inside decided that it was a good idea for me to know." Naruto said as he sat up in bed and transformed into the miniature version of Bumblebee. The wooden bed creaked under the added wait.

"Naruto I thought I told you not to do that on the bed." Mikoto scolded as she put her hands on her hips. "And I also thought I told you to rest." Mikoto added as she mock glared at the boy.

"Don't worry it's just quick Ka-san." Naruto pleaded as he took out a small circular disc from his right arm. Once it was detached he quickly transformed back into his human form while still holding the metallic disc.

"What's that Naruto?" Sasuke inquired and pointed at the disc.

"I'm not sure. It's something I can put a part of my memory in though and then this… hologram thingy… comes up and you can see what I saw and hear what I heard in that memory." Naruto explained, still very unsure of what he was talking about as he had only repeated what he heard Optimus say in his head. He then placed it on the bedside table as a projection shot up and started playing. It started from right after Naruto and Arashi had split off from the main group and were confronted by Mizuki.

The trio then watched and listened to everything that took place in the last few hours. Mikoto felt tears spring to her eyes during the part where Naruto seemed unsure of himself and she hugged her adopted son tightly as they watched. The fight followed soon thereafter and Sasuke watched intently through the eyes of Barricade and cheered near the end when Naruto finally won. The hologram cut off just as Naruto lost consciousness and the projection faded back into the circular disc.

Mikoto scooped it up and looked back at Naruto. "Naruto, would you like me to show this to the Hokage? It would be much easier than writing a written report tomorrow."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No No No!" He shouted in protest as he waved his arms in dismissal. "Just take that to Jiji instead of the report."

Mikoto smiled. "But I don't know how this works dear."

Naruto quickly made a bunshin that transformed itself into Frenzy. "There you go problem solved 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "Night Ka-san! I'm going to sleep now!" Naruto said before dropping his head onto the pillow.

Fifteen seconds was all it took before the blonde Uzumaki's breathing slowed down and he was out cold. Mikoto then walked over to her other son. "Sasuke, keep a watch over your brother please." She ordered gently.

Sasuke nodded as he crossed his arms. "No one will get near him, don't worry." Sasuke reassured her.

The Uchiha clan head sighed. "It's not that I'm worried about. Keep him safe from himself while I'm gone. Trouble seems to find your brother around every corner."

Sasuke smirked. "He wouldn't be Naruto if it didn't Ka-san."

Mikoto shook her head in amusement. "That is true. Now come along Frenzy. We have to report the hokage now." She said as she walked out of the room closely followed by the shorter robot.

After she shut the door behind her Sasuke grinned at Naruto's peaceful face. "You're awesome Naruto, but I'm not gonna stop till I catch up."

* * *

 **And done! So how was it this time? Good? Wonderful? Excellent? God-like?**

 **Anyway, really surprised by the amount of action he put in this. I think that it helps show that the Transformers aren't going to be overpowered with Naruto. Just because they are more advanced than the world around them, doesn't mean that they will instantly win.**

 **Now then, as some of you may know, I'm an avid FFXIV gamer if you've read Master of Jiongu. They've been holding an even called the "Recruit a Friend Campaign", allowing players to give out recruitment codes to people either new or returning.**

 **I am DYING to get enough points to get a certain prize, the Twintania mount. This dragon is a badass, and I want to ride her.**

 **If anyone's interested, please contact me and I'll give you more details, and a recruitment code if you're interested.**

 **...If you couldn't tell by now, I've gotten desperate enough to resort to this...**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	6. Chapter 6: Graduation

**Chapter 6: Graduation**

 **Hello again my wonderful readers! A new chapter for you all this time**

 **Before we start we would love to thank all of you guys for the reviews you have given!**

 **Review Time:**

 **Rebmul: Hush you. You have not seen the beauty that is Twintania.**

 **avatoa: I have to say wait and see, but I don't think you'll be disappointed. As for your second point, we have a plan set up to incorporate these. Don't worry.**

 **Emron (Guest): The concept of energy is chakra here and not energon. The cube gives better chakra control as well as a bit of extra chakra for Naruto to use. His future moves will involve your wishes though.**

 **Kairitrion Cerulean: Yes most of them have unique weapons but Naruto is still a little new to his new powers. They will only grow.**

* * *

(Mindscape)

Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, Naruto was dragged into his mindset where he once again faced the Kyubi and his other guests.

 **"Well done kit. That was an impressive display,"** Kurama grudgingly admitted as Naruto bowed slightly from the praise.

 **"But why did you not use my power? That fight would have been over much more quickly if you had called upon my power and you know this,"** The giant fox asked.

Naruto frowned at that. "Kurama, as much as possible I don't like using your power."

 **"You do not have an issue when using whatever the cube feels the need to grant you with,"** Kurama countered frowning.

"That's different. The power the cube gives me isn't destructive like yours." Naruto replied.

The bijuu raised an eyebrow at this. **"So the mess you have managed to create during that fight was not…destructive?"**

Naruto sighed. "You know what I mean Kurama. That one time I tried using your power with Itachi-nii outside of Konoha, I almost killed him then. I can't think straight when I use your power and I could feel you trying to control me. Optimus has explained that little fact a lot more… clearly… than you have. If I use too much of your power then there is a chance for you to break loose, which will effectively kill me and probably doom the world." Naruto explained while flailing his arms for added effect. "And it goes without mention that your chakra poisons my body. Do you know how much it hurts to feel your skin peel off?" Naruto winced at the memory.

 **"You've made your point,"** Kurama growled. **"And I am not ashamed that I tried tricking a little brat like you."**

The blonde boy stuck his tongue out back at the massive beast, "Yeah whatever fuzz ball. Optimus can practically read your mind and he has done a good job of keeping me safe AND warning me about every time something smells fishy… or foxy… about you."

Naruto then turned to the blue and red robot that was patiently waiting for him to finish his conversation with the bijuu. "Hey there Optimus. If you don't mind me asking, who's the new robot that helped me in that fight? All I know is that his name is Barricade and he has a different sign on his chest compared to you and Bumblebee."

The black robot known as barricade stepped forward so that he could face both Optimus and Naruto simultaneously. _"Yes, my name is Barricade. Like Prime, I also originate from Cybertron. The insignia difference you have noticed is because Prime and Bumblebee are under the Autobot faction. Frenzy and I, however, are Decepticon."_ Barricade explained in a gruff threatening voice. Naruto didn't feel any hostility from the new robot so decided that it was just the way the robot sounded.

"Oh, okay. But why are you in factions anyway? Don't you all come from within the same cube?" Naruto asked curiously.

Optimus decided to answer this question. _"No. Cybertron is not within the cube like you think. It used to be a world far away from here. In that world everyone joined a faction, much like your Shinobi Nations on this world. The Autobot and Decepticon factions were certainly the biggest and we were definitely enemies at that time. But there were other factions around that would sometimes ally with us or sometimes with them. Examples of these are the Constructicons, they are an independent faction that have the ability to join their bodies together to make a much bigger robot. There are still many more within the cube but all of us have called a truce while inside. You can compare Autobots and Decepticons with the five great hidden villages and the others as the lower hidden villages. It doesn't matter in the cube right now however as there is a temporary truce. Even if we do keep mostly to our own factions, the cube has willed for a truce and the cube's wishes over ride all."_

Naruto nodded in understanding. "So the cube chose me to protect it and also carry out a prophecy already seen for me? Oh well, I'll fulfill it even if I don't know what it is 'ttebayo!"

 _"Yes Naruto, that is how it works."_ Optimus shook his head in amusement as he answered. The large robot then turned towards Barricade. _"Barricade, since you are here I take it that Megatron is going to cooperate?"_

The black robot nodded. _"He is organizing the entire Decepticon force to be ready to assist should they be required. At first, Megatron only wanted to send Frenzy out. But thankfully, Blackout and Soundwave have made him see some sense. He has agreed that working with you will be in our best interests and safety from the Creators that are after us. In your absence, the Autobots have turned to Sentinel Prime for leadership and there is currently no conflict."_

 _"That is good to know Barricade, thank you."_ The Decepticon took a step back and bowed slightly.

 _"Now Naruto,"_ Optimus called as Naruto looked up from a game with Frenzy. _"Are you ready for more training?"_

Naruto leapt up. "Of course I am! Is that even a question?"

The large autobot turned to the large, red fox that had tucked itself away into the corner. _"Kurama, we are done with the boy. He is ready to commence his training session for tonight."_

 **"Fine, fine, fine."** Kurama grumbled as he opened a gigantic eye. **"It is time to test your skills against these two opponents."** The bijuu said as two figures materialized in front of the blonde haired boy.

"Didn't I fight these two already?" Naruto asked when he noticed Osamu and Itachi staring at him.

 **"Yes, you have. But now I will be controlling them and you are restricted to human form. You are only permitted to use Tsuihogan and harden your skin,"** Kurama instructed lazily.

"Why Kurama!? It's going to be easier to beat them when I use ALL of my powers." Naruto protested angrily.

The massive bijuu raised an eyebrow. **"Let's put it this way. You cannot only rely on your ability to transform into massive robots in a fight. If you train this way then when you do need to transform, the overall transformation will be more efficient than before!"** It tried to explain.

"Eh? I still don't get it." Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion.

 _"What he means Naruto is that if you improve your base abilities in your human form then your improvement will be directly proportional to the abilities of your increased size."_ Optimus attempted to clarify.

Naruto however looked even more confused than before and he dead panned. "That's not helping."

Barricade sighed. _"Just get stronger and we Cybertronians get stronger as well brat."_

"Ahh! Why didn't you just say so?" Naruto exclaimed as the realization hit him. "Yatta! Let's train now!"

Optimus and Kurama looked at Barricade like he had grown a second head. The black robot noticed them looking and shrugged. _"Sometimes you just have to be very straightforward."_

Kurama face faulted. **"My jinchuriki is an idiot."** He muttered to himself.

 _"He has his moments."_ Optimus agreed.

 **"Listen here brat. There is no way I will have a weak container."** Kurama ordered as the Osamu and Itachi he created launched themselves at Naruto.

"Yeah, whatever you say fuzz ball." Naruto shot back as he leapt in for his sparring session.

Kurama sat back in his corner as he watched the boy train through two, enormous blood red eyes. _**'Yes boy, train your powers and get stronger. Keep refusing to use my power. Then one day, you will lose something important because of your inability to protect it. You will realize that you need my power. And when that happens… I'm going to break free! Let that foolish hunk of metal advise you against me, he doesn't realize that I don't care about their foolish prophecy. Savior? Protector? Once I break free from this pathetic prison I will destroy everything, even these 'Creators' they're so scared of.'**_

Kurama snickered evilly inside his head as he watched the boy train. **_'I just need to wait a little longer and play along…'_**

* * *

(The Next day)

"Why do you have to be so troublesome Ino?" Shikamaru grumbled as he dropped into the academy seat lazily. "We're almost a whole thirty minutes early."

Ino meanwhile glared at him. "What are you talking about Shikamaru? Don't you want to be a ninja?"

Shikamaru opened an eye to look at her while his head lay on his arms on the desk. "No, not really. It's such a drag to be honest and I already know that I'm going to be on the same squad as you and Chouji. You didn't need to drag me here so early."

"Well unlike you, me and Chouji want to know who our fourth team member is and our jonin instructor. Besides," Ino smirked evilly. "I'll tell your mom you said you didn't want to be a ninja and that you called it a drag. She would be so, so, very _pleased_ now Shika, wouldn't she?"

Ino had to suppress a laugh when Shikamaru straightened up in his chair. "Troublesome woman."

The three new graduate's attention was then dragged to the front of the room when the Uzumaki siblings walked in with a beaming Arashi at the lead.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Hey… I thought you failed Arashi. This meeting is only for graduates you know," The Nara clan heir said as he cradled his head on one arm and did his best to imitate a lazy sloth. He raised another eyebrow when Arashi's grin widened.

"Ha! You see this?" Arashi said, tapping his forehead smugly. "See? See? I did graduate! Take that 'ttebayo!"

Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome, I had to ask."

Kaede sat down next to Shikamaru and gave him a nudge. "I'll fill you in on the story later on Shika-kun. I can tell you're dying to know what happened, even if you're trying to hide it." She smirked.

Shikamaru's face brightened up and he took his hand away from supporting his head. He turned round and sat up straighter to face her while he smiled. "Troublesome, do I even need to ask how you know that?"

Kaede giggled and waggled a finger at the Nara. "Don't you 'troublesome' me Shika-kun, I might actually listen to your mom."

The Nara clan head groaned. "Why is everyone always black mailing me with my mom? It's an inhuman drag. I thought you were better than that Ka-chan."

"Ka-chan?" Kaede gripped his ear playfully. "You're making it sound like I'm your mother."

Shikamaru raised his hands in surrender before groaning. "That's it; I give up with nick names. I tried shortening your name but it's apparently such a drag." The Nara clan heir smiled again however, when Kaede chuckled. He found it cute.

"I think Kaede-chan will suffice Shika-kun. Won't it?" Kaede asked as Shikamaru gently pried out the scroll she was reading and put it away.

"I don't see an issue then, Kaede-chan." Shikamaru grinned. "Now how about we finish our little game from yesterday?"

Kaede rolled her eyes. "You just read my mind." She replied as she unsealed a Shogi board with pieces already in play.

Away from the two Kiba whistled. "Oooh! Shikamaru's whipped! Hahaha!" Kiba laughed before Akane slapped the back of his head. "Oi! Akane! Don't do that!" Kiba growled as he rubbed his sore head. "Akamaru shut up!" He added when he heard his little puppy snickering from within his jacket. The puppy cowered back inside and whined in protest.

"I have to agree with Kiba on his original sentence. Why? Because Shikamaru only ever loosens up when he is in Kaede-san's presence and laziness seems to temporarily leave him. The same can be said for Kaede-san. Why? Because the only one she puts away her scrolls for willingly is Shikamaru. I can safely assume that they are, what Kiba calls, whipped," Shino stated in his monotone voice next to Kiba. Although he did have something that resembled a smile tugging at his lips.

"Shino we already knew that." Kiba grumbled. "You should try saying something funny more often."

Kiba took a step back when he saw Shino's evil smirk. "Then perhaps I should inform them of the time when you…"

Shino didn't get to finish as Kiba had immediately caught on and in a second had his hand firmly clamped over Shino's mouth while Ino and Akane raised their eyebrows. "Hehe… um… It's nothing to worry about!" Kiba laughed unconvincingly.

"What is it Kiba?" Akane said in a quiet voice that frightened the Inuzuka even more and led him to clamp down his nervous hands even further on Shino's mouth.

"N-nothing! I-I already told you it's nothing!" Kiba protested desperately as Akane started marching towards him. Ino, Chouji and Arashi were watching the scene in amusement.

Kiba was saved from Akane's wrath at the last second by cry of, "Dynamic Entry!" A green blur erupted from the doorway and Akane barely just managed to raise her arm and catch the powerful kick that was aimed at her head. She let go of the foot before greeting the newcomer.

"Good morning Lee-kun! I see that you are back already from your morning training with Gai-sensei and that you are wearing his graduation gift." Akane greeted as she noticed the green jumpsuit that Gai had gifted Lee for graduating. "But why were you trying to kick me!" She yelled as she bonked him on the head. The spandex-clad boy's round eyes widened even further in shock.

Almost immediately Lee was down on the ground with his head bowed and crying Anime tears. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Please forgive me Akane-chan! Gai-sensei said it is most unyouthful to attack such a pretty and beautiful flower unless absolutely necessary. I was simply practicing Gai-sensei's second rule: Always make a good, powerful, and most importantly, youthful entry with this Dynamic Entry where ever I go!"

Akane smiled and blushed a little at Lee's flirting. "It's ok Lee-kun. I forgive you. But I think he meant that Dynamic Entry should be used whenever you enter fights."

Lee shot up and stared at Akane and the Uzumaki girl could swear that there was a fire behind each of his eyes as out of nowhere shot a notebook and a pencil and he began to furiously take notes. "Thank you for such youthful wisdom Akane-chan! I will be sure to heed it for the rest of my life! Gai-sensei said it is also good and youthful to listen to the advice of women that look much smarter than oneself so that we do not look like unyouthful idiots!"

"That is no problem Lee-kun, glad I could help." Akane replied

"Akane!"

"Lee!"

"Akane!" Lee shouted as his arms opened up for a hug.

"Lee?" Akane looked at him strangely when she felt something crunching underneath her feet. 'Sand? Where did the sand come from?' She thought to herself.

"Akane!"

"Lee!?" Akane stared in shock as a large embodiment of water appeared to one side, with waves splashing high.

"Akane!"

"LEE!" Akane growled desperately in a stern voice as a sunset appeared beside them and the boy started running towards her for a hug.

"Akane!"

"Lee! No!" Akane yelled when she noticed she was now in a similar green suit to Lee's.

"Akane!"

Knowing where all of this was going, having seen a horrific sight between sensei and student just the day before, Akane stared in absolute horror as Lee's clothes disappeared effectively leaving him only in boxers. To save herself and everyone else around them, Akane kicked Lee back out of the door. The class sighed in relief, somehow knowing they had barely escaped a memory that could have scarred them for life.

"EEP!" A frightened squeak was heard as Lee shot through the door. A few seconds later a blonde boy walked in through the door with Lee slung over on his shoulders. "Okay," Naruto called out, "Who kicked Lee out? He nearly crashed into Hinata-chan!" Naruto announced as Hinata walked in behind him.

"Sorry Naruto!"Akane called out.

Naruto deadpanned. "You two again? Kami, train outside! You two are going to hurt someone badly real soon if you keep at it!"

"Yosh! Naruto! I shall go outside and burn my flames of Youth!" Lee exclaimed as he leapt off the blonde boy and made to dash outside. Before he made it out the door however, he was forcefully stopped by someone grabbing him by the ear.

"Baka! We need to wait here so that we know our teams and jonin senseis!" Akane scolded as she dragged him back to their seat.

Lee however was flailing his arms and legs around desperately. "But Akane-chan! My flames of youth will extinguish if I do not fan them!"

Once they got back to their seat Akane turned to the bowler cut ninja. "If you do not want your flames to go out then give me five hundred thumb pushups right now!" She commanded while pointing at the ground. Lee dropped like a rock then began to accomplish his task at an inhuman rate.

"Oooh someone else is whipped as well!" Kiba howled before he heard knuckles cracking behind him. "Oh come on not you too Ino! Something is wrong with the girls in here, you're all crazy!" Kiba groaned. Suddenly, the Inuzuka paled when he noticed that he had turned more than a few heads of the opposite gender.

Shino sighed and took a step away from Kiba. "Hehe… Hello ladies…"

Before anything serious could occur, the attention of most of the female gender snapped to the front and they shared a joint scream when Sasuke walked in. "Oh Kami…" Sasuke muttered before dashing to the back of the class and grabbing Kiba and Arashi on either side of him as a defense mechanism. The two didn't seem to mind at the attention while Sasuke was busy thinking of future plans. _'Ok, Last day at the academy. Last day. After this maybe I should wear a mask. Yeah! Like the Hatake clan! They're good looking but they aren't swamped!'_ Sasuke mentally patted himself on the back for his ideology.

Everyone's attention was then recalled to their seats by Iruka, who had suddenly walked into the class with a clipboard in his hands.

The scar faced chunin glanced around at the gathered graduates. He looked at the clipboard and nodded to himself before clearing his throat. "Okay good. Everyone's here. How do you all feel today?" He chuckled at the looks he was getting.

"Can we get on with it already? You're making it too much of a drag." Shikamaru grumbled.

Iruka laughed. "Well then I guess it's best that we get started before some people fall asleep," Nobody missed the glance Iruka sent Shikamaru as he stated the fact and everyone shared a laugh.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, I'll cut straight to the chase. You all have been called here today because you have been deemed talented enough and competent enough to join the ranks of Konoha's shinobi. Of course, right now, you all understand that you are mere genin. In other words, you are rookies. So expect a lot of work ahead of you," Iruka started. He received grumbles in response before he continued. "If you want to rise in the ranks, then this is an important part of your career. Pay close attention to what you will learn from now on. You won't be graded anymore. You aren't in the academy anymore. This is your job. You're all adults now and if you don't understand that soon then you will likely end up either seriously injured or dead. This is a very serious thing that you need to know. It's not about homework and exams anymore. This is about life and death. So pay very close attention."

The bored and annoyed expressions from previously had by now all but disappeared. Iruka nodded, clearly satisfied with this response, and surveyed his former students once again.

"All right then, I have a few more things to explain to you before you all go off to become ninja. First off, since you are new at this and haven't ever been on a mission before, you'll need someone to teach you the ins and the outs so that we can be sure you will all survive. For this purpose we have several specially assigned jonin commanders to train you." Iruka added.

"Oh cool, we get to be trained by the best. This is gonna be so awesome 'ttebayo!" Arashi whispered to Kiba who also nodded. Sasuke didn't know what to think as he and Naruto were already being trained by Itachi. There weren't many people much better than his elder brother. The three turned back to listen when Iruka started speaking again.

"Another thing, you won't be alone. For squad safety and efficiency there will be four genin under each jonin sensei and these team formations have already been decided by your respective Jonin sensei and agreed upon by the Hokage. It will be very, very important for you all to get along with your team members, whoever they end up being. Teamwork is one of the most fundamental assets of a ninja and here in Konoha, we are renowned for our team work and how there is never a comrade left behind. If there is no teamwork then your squad will probably end up getting nowhere. Now I don't think I should carry on for any longer as some of you seem like they are about to fall asleep." Iruka glanced pointedly at Shikamaru. "I will announce the squads now. Each of you pay attention because I will only say this once."

The class seemed to move forward in anticipation.

"Is everyone listening?" Iruka asked as he watched nods from around the room.

"Good. Okay. Squad One: Daisuke Yamamoto, Naoaki Benio, Hatsuto Sadaharu, Hanae Gaku…" Iruka announced.

Naruto's thoughts were going a mile a minute and he barely heard his classmate's names being called out one by one. Groups of four… Jonin commander… training… missions…

"Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered as she nudged him, "You should pay attention."

"Huh? Oh… yeah."

"He warned you that he's only going to tell our assigned squads once." Shino stated from across Naruto.

"Fine whatever, I'm listening now."

"…Squad Seven: Sasuke Uchiha…" This got the class's collective attention as the girls that had already been assigned teams groaned.

"…Sakura Haruno…" Iruka was interrupted when said girl squealed in delight. She had matured a little during the course of the year but still lost control in matters regarding Sasuke. "Hah! Take that Ino! Sasuke-kun is mine! True love does exist!"

The class noticed Sasuke sink lower into his seat. "It had to be that one." The Uchiha sighed in resignation. _'I really need to get that mask.'_

One girl however couldn't help it and burst out laughing. "Ohh Kami! Condolences to you Sasuke! I feel Sorry for whoever else ends up on your team! My poor ears!" Tenten laughed heartily as she acted out covering her ears while Sasuke mock glared at the girl.

'If only more girls like that Tenten would end up on my team, my ears would definitely love it.' Sasuke thought.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Iruka cleared his throat. "Next member of team seven is Tenten Jakonato."

The class erupted into laughter while Tenten's forehead met the table rather fast crying tears. "I'm sorry Kami, I will never make fun of anyone like that again." Tenten repented silently. She was brought out of her trance by a rather loud Uzumaki taunting her.

"Tenten just ate her words 'ttebayo!" Arashi chanted out. He shut up when a sharpened pencil nicked his ear before burying itself in the wall.

"Shut it red head." Tenten growled from her seat in the front. Sasuke's grin grew wider. He could work with a girl like this.

Iruka's left eye twitched as he added chakra to his voice to make it louder. "AS I WAS SAYING…" he started. The academy instructor calmed down when the class settled. "The final member of team seven is Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke's face beamed with joy at the back of the class as he returned Naruto's grin when they caught each other's eye. Tenten sighed in relief; two male prodigies on her team outbalanced the bad. The three of them then widened their eyes to hear that Kakashi Hatake was going to be their jonin sensei.

Meanwhile there were three others that were visibly depressed at the news. Shino, Kiba, and Hinata had been hoping they would end up on a team with the blonde as he was one of the only ones they could trust fully in the class.

"Team eight under Kurenai Yuuhi: Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Arashi Uzumaki." Iruka continued.

The three friends smiled, at least they were together. And Arashi wasn't so bad; it was almost as good as actually having Naruto with them. Despite the obvious skill difference, Arashi would be a fitting member.

"Yatta! I'm in a cool team 'ttebayo! And it's with Hinata-chan! Ne, Hinata-chan, wanna go out on a date later?" Arashi offered Hinata who let out a little squeak in surprise.

Naruto was not aware he had done it, but his head had snapped back to glare at Arashi. Even if it was lost to the red head, Hinata and Naruto himself, the action was not missed by Sasuke, Shino and Kiba who immediately tried to diffuse the situation.

"Oi Arashi, we need to train first and do many missions before you think of dating anyone!" Kiba replied loudly.

"I agree, and there might be no point. Why? Because Hinata may not want to follow your advances." Shino stated.

The situation was still seemed completely lost on Arashi however. "Are you sure about that? Hinata would love to go out with me! Wouldn't you Hinata-chan?" Arashi asked as he turned to face her. By now Hinata was turning dangerously red in her seat next to Naruto. The blonde however, was threatening to shatter the table with a hand gripping the edge as he continued to glare at his cousin.

"I'm not so sure about that Arashi." Kiba said nervously as he watched Naruto.

"Nonsense, in fact, I'll take her out to Ichiraku's place later to celebrate!" Arashi added as he announced his offer.

"Don't worry Arashi, if it's to celebrate then I'll take her there." Everyone turned to Naruto as he said that. His voice seemed strained.

"Oh, too bad then." Arashi pouted as he dropped back down into his seat. "Can I come with you?" He asked hopefully. A glare from his blond cousin gave him a very clear answer. "I guess that's a no then." The red headed boy clarified with his arms up in surrender.

Everyone visibly relaxed when Naruto eased his grip on the table and leaned back into his seat. He probably wasn't aware he was doing it, but afterwards he wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulders.

Hinata herself had almost completely ceased her stuttering and had made good progress around her shyness. She had her friends to thank for that. However, even if you didn't stutter or blush normally, when your crush puts an arm around you can't help but lose a little bit of control.

"Ahem!" Iruka coughed to regain their attention. "Moving on. But before that. I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE INTERUPTIONS!" The scar faced man yelled. "The next person to interrupt will not graduate. Ever!" He grinned sadistically when the majority of the class shrank back away from him nodding.

"Good. Squad nine under Gai Maito: Neji Hyuga, Lee Rock, Akane Uzumaki and Akumo Chifuyo."

At the mention of her name a silent girl that looked as if she was asleep at the back of the class sat up straight when the class looked at her. Her face lit up into a Cheshire cat grin that even Neji paled at. Iruka thought that the girl reminded him a little too much of a certain Anko Mitarashi. Hopefully those two would not meet, the scar faced chunin already felt sorry for what Gai had in store for him.

"Squad ten under Asuma Sarutobi: Chouji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Kaede Uzumaki."

The said members all shared a breath of relief and Ino giggled when she caught the glance shared between Shikamaru and Kaede. Teasing them would be so much fun. The blonde girl was dragged out of her musings by Iruka making one last announcement.

"Thank you all of you, these will probably be my last words to you and all I can say is good luck out there. Spend some time to get to know your new team members and be back here at noon to be collected by your jonin sensei. Dismissed." Iruka said happily, smiling at the last time he would be seeing this class.

* * *

(Outside)

Upon leaving the classroom, all the recent graduates split up to get to know their own teams better before heading back to class to meet their jonin senseis later on. Before Naruto split up with Team Eight however, he made sure to let Hinata know that he was serious about taking her out and that he would fetch the next day at six. She had blushed lightly and thanked him for inviting her. Little did she know that Naruto was not planning on taking her anywhere Ichiraku's for the meantime. He had other… plans that Mikoto had advised him in.

After Kiba grumbled that Naruto was now trying to sabotage their team by distracting Hinata, team seven and team eight went their separate ways.

"So hey guys!" Naruto stated as he spun around clapping his hands. "Since we're going to be a team and all then let's get to know each other! Me and Sasuke are practically brothers so I don't think that's gonna be a problem here but just to be fair. I am Naruto Uzumaki. I like training, ramen and doing pranks. I dislike people who judge too early and are cruel for a very poor reason. I dream of one day ruling a village properly and to make sure everything within it is run fairly." Naruto started off by introducing himself.

 _'Tenten and Sakura have no need to know about my clan or where it currently is. Sasuke already knows though but I don't think he's gonna tell.'_ He thought to himself. "You're turn Sasuke."

"Hm. Fine. I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I like training and seeing my progress and I dislike unfair people and those who are overly obsessed with something." Sasuke said as he glanced at Sakura who was listening far too intently as she gazed at him. Sasuke sighed before continuing. "My dream is to become the Hokage of Konohagakure and to lead successfully along with Naruto."

Tenten looked at him quizzically. "Didn't Naruto say he was going to lead a village? I thought Naruto wanted to become the hokage?"

Naruto sighed. "It's not like that Tenten. I'm not planning on leading Konoha, that's Sasuke's job. I'm hoping to lead another village."

Tenten gasped. "You're going to betray Konoha and turn traitor!"

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened. "Huh!? Wait what? I'm not gonna betray the village Tenten! Kami this is complicated. I'll explain later on. Speaking of which it's your turn." Naruto quickly changed topic, trying to cover up that he and Sasuke had slipped.

Tenten glared at the boys. She was not satisfied as it was obvious that they were hiding something from her. She would let it slide… for now… "I'm Tenten Jakonato and I like weapons of all kinds. I dislike anybody who shows no care towards their equipment. My dream is to become well known in the elemental nations for my weapon skills and become as strong as Tsunade Senju one day!" She exclaimed.

"That's a nice dream, we just need to work hard to get there now won't we?" Naruto grinned at the bun haired girl who smiled back. "You're turn now Sakura. Oi! Sakura!" The blonde haired boy clicked his fingers in front of her face to snap her out of her daydream.

"W-what? Huh? Oh. I'm Sakura Haruno and I like…" She giggled as she looked at Sasuke, "and I dislike competition for…" She giggled again. "And my dream is to…" The pink haired girl then squealed loudly. Sasuke groaned while Naruto frowned.

Tenten on the other hand face palmed. "I swear you make kunoichi like us look bad Sakura." The bun haired girl then turned to Naruto. "Well then Naruto, what do we do now?"

"Why are you asking him what to do? You should be asking Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun is stronger and smarter so he definitely should lead us!" Sakura retaliated.

Now it was Sasuke who frowned. "Naruto, give us a while please. Sakura, come with me." The raven haired boy ordered as he started walking away.

Sakura squealed loudly in delight causing the other two members of the team to cover their ears. "Coming Sasuke-kun!" She answered happily as she skipped along behind him.

"Ahhh," Naruto shook his head to clear it. "Banshee's gone." The blue eyed boy turned to see Tenten studying his face intently. "Um, Tenten? Why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy."

Tenten moved in closer. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

"Kinda, we were somewhat in the same class for the last couple of years Tenten." Naruto deadpanned.

"Were you in the orphanage before?" She continued.

That hit something and Naruto began to immediately scan the girl in front of him. She was right about one thing, he did remember seeing her somewhere before. Those light brown eyes, the Chinese attire, the two buns… wait… buns? Instantly a memory hit him from one of the orphanages he was in. "Panda-chan?"

Tenten's eyes widened in recognition. "I knew it! Whisker-kun!" She exclaimed loudly, surprise evident on her face. "I just noticed now but you were definitely the only one I ever knew to have whisker marks like that!"

"And you were the only one with those silly buns on her head!" The blonde boy added.

"Yes I… hey… did you just call my buns silly?"

Naruto's grin widened. "You got it panda-chan!"

Tenten clenched her fists. "After all this time, you still call them silly!" She growled angrily.

"Yup!" Naruto smirked. "And I did learn my lesson. We'll go to a sushi store later as a team, how does that sound?"

Tenten's eyes widened. "You still remember that! We didn't see each other ever since I got adopted at four!"

Naruto grinned. "Of course I did! You were my only friend then remember?"

Tenten looked down. "I'm sorry."

Naruto caught on to the mood and frowned. "Sorry for what?"

"Well, after that I couldn't find you so I thought that you got transferred or adopted. And after the first two days I was so happy with my new family that I… forgot about you. Even knowing how much everyone hated you. I feel terrible now, I didn't even try to find out why they hated you." Tenten said sadly with her head bowed down.

Naruto felt his heart clench and he walked up to her and lifted her chin up to look her in the eye. "It's just fine Panda-chan, look at me now. I turned out alright so there's nothing for you to worry about. Except maybe for you finding a boyfriend with that hairstyle."

Tenten look up and grinned at the boy before punching him playfully on the shoulder. "Oh really? Well enough of me, I wanna hear about you and Hinata! Come on spill! What you two did in class was soo cute!" Tenten teased as she laughed at Naruto's flustered expression. He hadn't been that obvious, had he?

The blonde haired Uzumaki rubbed the back of his head while grinning sheepishly, sporting a slight blush. Luckily he saw a way out. "Hey Panda-chan, you like action right?"

Almost instantly the bun haired girl forgot about the teasing. "Yeah, why?"

Naruto laughed inside his head at how easily he had swayed his old friend from the topic. "Come then, I've got something I've been meaning to show you." Naruto explained as he dashed towards a training ground inside the Uchiha compound.

"Wait up Whisker-kun!" Tenten yelled as she took off after him.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

Sakura had followed Sasuke to a seemingly remote area near a lakeside which she had to say was beautiful. 'Why did Sasuke-kun bring me here?' Sakura thought wildly.

 **'He's finally going to propose to us!'** Her inner voice rejoiced.

 _'Really! Is that why he took us to this place to talk alone!?'_

 _ **'Of course! Why else? He finally realized our beauty! Shannaro!'**_

 _'Oh! I can't wait!'_

 _ **'Focus! Oh look, he stopped. Pay attention baka! Sasuke-kun is talking, he's finally going to admit his love to us!'**_

Unaware of the conversation Sakura was having with herself, the raven haired boy was deciding the best way to approach her with what he had to say. Sasuke didn't want to be rude or heartless, but he had to say what he had to say at that moment before it could get any worse. He stopped and turned to face the excited girl and sighed. He wished he really didn't have to do this.

"Sakura, there is something I have to tell you." The raven haired boy started.

"Don't worry Sasuke-kun, I'm listening." Sakura said as her hopes rose.

"I don't like fan girls like you Sakura." Sasuke stated bluntly.

And just like that, Sakura's hopes were dashed to the ground. "W-what? I don't think I heard you right Sasuke-kun? Weren't you going to propose to me? To tell me that you love me!?" Sakura shrieked in a hurt voice.

Sasuke sighed. "No Sakura I wasn't. And this is exactly why. You don't care about anything else other than trying to impress me or dreaming about our future. This way of thinking can get you killed or get our team seriously injured Sakura. As you are now, you're a liability to our team."

"Who is it?" Sakura asked quietly. "Who is it!?" She shouted louder. "Tell me what girl stole your attention! Was it Ino? That traitor! I'll never forgive…"

"SAKURA!" Sasuke yelled furiously. "Do you see what I'm talking about!? Your world revolves only around me! I don't like any girl right now at all! None of you even know me on a personal level yet you all follow me around like dogs! This is why I don't like ANY of you!"

The angry outburst from her beloved brought more pain to Sakura as the tears started falling freely from her eyes. "I'm sorry Sasuke. What is it? What else is wrong with me? I can change! I can fix myself so that you…"

Sasuke stopped her rant by placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Listen to me Sakura." He said softly. "I'm sorry to have to say this but I have to say it now. If you stop this attitude and start focusing on becoming a skilled and respectable kunoichi, then we can get closer… but only as friends. We can never become more than friends Sakura as I have no such feelings for you. I don't hate you, but I just cannot really see us as anything more. Would you still like to become one of my friends Sakura?"

Sakura sucked up her tears and sniffled silently. Yes it hurt; her fantasies over the current years had just been violently thrown back into her face. But at least he still wanted to be her friend. If they could be nothing more than friends then so be it, but she would definitely try her best to change. "Yes, Sasuke-kun. I want to be your friend. I promise I'll try to change."

Sasuke gave her a warm smile as she slowly dried her tears. Her heart would have fluttered if he had done that for her before, but now, she simply felt like he had been taken off the pedestal she had previously held him in. She smiled back as well.

"That's nice to hear Sakura. First of all, one of the things I want to correct is who you listen to in our team. I'm not sure about Tenten, but Naruto is probably the leader of our squad." Sasuke said, genuinely relieved that he had probably eliminated her most annoying trait.

Sakura looked at him a little confused. "Why Naruto? Why not you?" She asked. She honestly had not paid anyone else much attention at the academy but she did know that Naruto was one of the best.

"It's because between the two of us, Naruto is probably the smarter one and more skilled in a fair fight. He also sometimes thinks things more thoroughly than I do so it is best to listen to him." Sasuke explained, happy that Sakura was at least more genuinely interested in something other than simply him. She was also starting to use her logical side at the moment which was a plus.

"But you said in a fair fight, what does that mean?"

"I meant that me and Naruto are mostly equals when he doesn't use his other abilities. He has something that's almost like a kekkai genkai that only he can do and I am no match for him when he uses it."

"Woah, am I going to get to see it?"

"Yeah, soon probably. Naruto suggested a gathering of all our abilities so we know how to work together as a team. Let's start with you so that we know what you can do." Sasuke informed her, liking the turn of the conversation.

"Well, I can do all the academy jutsu, and I am already studying some advanced genjutsu. Unfortunately that is pretty much it." Sakura replied, not very confident in her current skill set.

"It's okay," Sasuke reassured her. "We need genjutsu backup in a fight and me and Naruto usually attack head on so we have no time for genjutsu, but if you can do them well then that can really make our assaults way easier. Come on, let's see how good you are then." He challenged as he activated his sharingan.

"Here goes then…"

* * *

(In the Uchiha Training Ground)

Tenten was staring at Naruto awestruck. "Whiskers, that was AWESOME!" She yelled excitedly. "You can turn into giant robots and you can do those jutsu! It's really cool to have you on this team!"

Naruto smirked at Tenten. "You know it 'ttebayo!" He replied before a thought struck him. "Hey, I just remembered that I could see those hand seals! I think I can probably do those Doton jutsus that Osamu was using!"

Tenten was jumping up and down in excitement. "Go ahead then! Try it whiskers, if you can do it then I'm treating you to ramen!"

"Game on 'ttebayo!"

"On second thought maybe not." Tenten quickly changed her mind when she saw the predatory gaze that Naruto had just given her. She then laughed at Naruto's pout as he crossed his arms and turned away.

"Anyway, which one should I try first Panda-chan?" Naruto asked when he finally got back on topic a few minutes later.

"I think the **Doton: Oukina Shougeki** (Earth Release: Great Impact) is going to be nice. The one with the armour is probably useless to you and most of the other things look like they will destroy a lot of stuff." Tenten suggested.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "And this technique won't?" He asked teasingly.

Tenten glared at him. "Shut up, it looks cool so just do it!"

Naruto raised his hands in surrender. "Fine fine. Here we go. **Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact)

Tenten fell to the ground laughing when a small mound of earth the size of a football was all that was shot away from them. Naruto now had his turn to glare. "Come on Tenten, I was restricting the amount of chakra. Watch this. **Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact)

This time a boulder the size of a house was fired at high speed away from Naruto. "Now that's more like it!" Tenten exclaimed as she applauded her blonde teammate.

Meanwhile on their way to the training ground, Sasuke was busy reassuring Sakura that Naruto didn't think that badly about her and that he would readily accept her as a teammate. All of a sudden they were alarmed when an enormous boulder appeared directly ahead of them, ready to smash into the pair.

Sasuke leapt in front of Sakura to try and destroy it before it caused any harm. **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Great Fireball) Sasuke watched as the flame engulfed the incoming boulder and his eyes widened in alarm when he realized that his attack had only set the large rock aflame instead of destroying it.

The raven haired boy grabbed Sakura's arm and barely managed to get them both out of harm's way with a quick **Kawarimi** (Substitution) with a nearby log.

Gasping from the adrenaline rush, the pair turned to see the source of the deadly technique and were shocked to see a laughing Naruto and Tenten.

"Sorry guys! Whisker-kun didn't see you there!" Tenten yelled out.

"Panda-chan didn't tell me you were there! Blame her!" Naruto countered as he and Tenten fell into an argument.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look. "Panda-chan? Whisker-kun?" Sakura asked dumbly.

"Don't ask." Sasuke replied. "Come on, let's go meet them. It looks like they've been practicing without us."

The raven haired boy and the pink haired girl walked over to the bickering pair and Sasuke was forced to split them apart to even listen.

"Oi, stop fighting you two and can you care to explain? Where did you learn that earth jutsu Naruto? I'm sure that was the one Osamu was using." Sasuke inquired, genuinely curious.

Naruto's grin told him everything he needed to know. "Yup! And now I'm gonna test all his moves 'ttebayo!"

"Um guys," Sakura caught their attention shyly. "I, um, I have an idea."

"Really?" Naruto looked at her and studied her curiously. His eyes met Sasuke's and the Uchiha nodded. The blonde haired Uzumaki turned to look back at Sakura and smiled. "Come on then, let's hear it!"

Naruto's warm grin brought back confidence to Sakura. "Well, I remember Sasuke setting that rock on fire while it was heading towards us, you guys just made it even more dangerous."

The realization of the possibilities hit the team as they began to brainstorm ideas. "So a huge flaming rock is part of it, what if we add Naruto's wind jutsu? Remember the one that pushed the rock really fast?" Tenten started.

"And because of the wind the fire will get stronger on the rock and the boulder will also travel faster!" Sakura exclaimed. Even if she did not know what jutsu they were talking about, she could still put two and two together.

"And then we can multiply the rocks! Remember the **Doton: Tamaishi Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?** (Earth Release: Boulder Shadow Clone technique)

"Woah that is epic!" Naruto finalized. "But wait, that move will only need me and Sasuke. What can Sakura and Panda-chan do to help?"

"Well, Sakura is very good in genjutsu Naruto. If she can hide some of the rocks then when the enemy tries to dodge what they can see, they get hit by the invisible ones!" Sasuke theorized.

Tenten pouted. "And what about me? I'm not good at Genjutsu or Ninjutsu."

Sakura easily gave a solution. "Well just in case anyone does escape this move, you can always hit them easily with some kunai! This makes this combination almost impossible to dodge!"

"Yatta! This is now team seven's Combination One!" Naruto yelled out loudly. "I just have to warn you guys though, Doton jutsus are harder for me to do since they are not my main elemental affinity." The blonde boy added.

"Who cares Whisker-kun? Let's just test this move already! Sakura and I won't have anything to do so we'll just watch you two." Tenten stated before grabbing Sakura and leaping away from the boys.

"Ready Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

The whiskered boy nodded. " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** (Shadow Clone technique) Naruto chanted only for two more grinning clones to appear next to him.

 **"Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu!"** (Fire Release: Great Fireball) Sasuke breathed in before releasing a massive ball of fire .

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) The original Naruto let loose an enormous boulder that easily caught up with the fireball, setting itself on fire.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath) One of the clones breathed out. The flames on the rock roared into a fierce inferno as the boulder shot forwards at an even faster speed.

 **"Tamaishi Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** The last clone chanted and the already deadly projectile multiplied into ten terrifying copies.

Sakura and Tenten shared a look when a good portion of the forest behind the training ground was obliterated. The two boys in the middle of the clearing however were grinning from ear to ear.

A few minutes later Itachi and a few other Uchiha arrived on the scene to inspect their training ground and were shocked to find only four kids standing in the centre.

"What are you kids doing?" Itachi asked stoically, silently impressed at the damage.

"Testing our new moves nii-san!" Naruto explained.

Sasuke grinned, "Can you rate our combination move nii-san?" the raven haired boy asked innocently.

Naruto caught on immediately. "Sakura, Panda-chan. We can test your part in the combination now."

Itachi eyed the four children suspiciously. Knowing his two brothers, something was up. "Okay, what should I do?"

"Stand there and survive." Sasuke pointed to a spot as Itachi raised an eyebrow at the statement.

The older Uchiha brother went to the designated location after telling the other Uchiha that he had come with to stand down and watch.

Itachi was not expecting what had happened afterwards however. The flaming rock was certainly a surprise. However when it split into five he realized that he was in serious trouble and was ready to quickly dash to a side. That was when he felt something off and dispelled Sakura's genjutsu to find that there were not five, but ten of the massive death sentences. Adding chakra to his feet he barely made it to the side of the long line of flaming rocks only to notice he had no time to block or dodge the three kunai that were about to bury themselves into his head. Left with no choice Itachi spotted a log and quickly did a **Kawarimi** with it. In his new location however, he was still forced to snatch two kunai out of the air to deflect three shuriken headed for his throat.

The older Uchiha brother breathed out a sigh in relief when he realized that the brutal onslaught was over while the spectators were eyeing the four genin in awe. If it had been one of them in Itachi's place they would have either suffered serious injury or quite possibly, death.

"Good job children." Itachi complimented the group. "But what else do you have?"

The evil smirks the group had on their faces made Itachi tense. "Oh nii-san, we're just getting started!" Naruto answered before the group launched a second combination they had just agreed upon.

Itachi gulped before preparing to spar with the recent academy graduates that were apparently just 'rookies'.

* * *

(Noon, Back at the Academy)

An hour before they were due back at the academy, an exhausted Itachi had excused himself saying that he had somewhere to be and had quickly disappeared in a shunshin before they could prevent him. As they rested under a tree, Naruto had shown his fight the night before to an entranced Sakura that had to admit that Sasuke was right when he said that Naruto was much stronger in his metal forms.

Afterwards the newly formed team had visited Ichiraku's despite Sasuke's protests about money and time. The two girls had been amazed after Naruto practically inhaled fifteen entire bowls of the dish before they left for the academy to meet their jonin sensei.

Team seven were disappointed however, when it appeared that their jonin sensei appeared to be late. A few minutes after the class had reassembled; all the other teams had been swiftly picked up. But team seven was still waiting.

And waiting…

And waiting…

One long hour later, Sakura had decided to take a nap while Tenten was repeatedly twirling a kunai in her hand. Turning to Naruto she found the blonde haired ninja tapping the table impatiently while Sasuke had his arms crossed as he glared at the door. She sighed. Why would their sensei be this late?

After another whole hour of waiting Naruto leapt out of his seat in frustration, "Okay this is it! You guys are gonna help me with this! We'll teach him a lesson about being late 'ttebayo!" He yelled out while his other three teammates smirked. This was going to be good.

Just then the door creaked open as a white haired man in a face mask strolled in.

"Finally after two whole hours!" Naruto exclaimed angrily.

"Yo…" Kakashi started before he was interrupted.

Tenten threw the kunai in her hand at his face with deadly precision while Sasuke held his hands in a seal. **"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** (Kunai Shadow Clone technique) He cried out.

Naruto drew his hand back. **"Fuuton: Reppushou!"** (Wind release: Gale Palm) He unleashed the gust of air that gave the numerous projectiles their deadly speed boost.

To Kakashi's credit he simply danced his way around them with his hands never leaving his pockets. He gave them an eye smile when the onslaught abruptly ended. "Well done…" He started before his lone eye widened. He had a bleeding cut on his cheek. 'But how?' He thought to himself. 'I didn't get hit by those kunai I'm sure!'

Sakura smirked. "Oops, guess sensei didn't see the genjutsu covered kunai now did he?" Sakura asked innocently.

The one eyed man turned to look at the wall behind him and he did indeed see many more holes than the ones he had originally dodged. "Meet me in training ground eighteen." He ordered before turning to walk back out the door. Kakashi heard them open the window and wondered why they were using an odd way to exit. He found his answer however, when just as he walked out through the door, a clone of Naruto doused him in an mix of coloured paint. And not just any paint. Naruto's special edition 'won't come off' paint.

He looked at himself and sighed as the clone dispelled itself and the four behind him burst out laughing before they leapt out of the window. _'So be it,'_ He thought to himself. _'I'll just be two hours late to the meeting point as well.'_ He planned out as he took out an orange book from within his vest. Actually, he remembered a little conversation with the hokage and Itachi a few hours back about being late. The Copy Ninja thought about the conversation a little bit before he was again lost into his own perverted world.

* * *

(A few hours ago)

"Gai, where is Kakashi?" The Sandaime asked. They had already been in a meeting for the last twenty or so minutes discussing the strategies to be used with each of their genin. The first six sensei had already given their views and had it discussed with all those gathered. It was now the Copy Ninja's turn but he was nowhere in sight.

All of a sudden, the said ninja chose that moment to enter the room with his nose buried in his beloved book. "Ah! Here is my eternal rival Hokage-sama! Where have you been!?" Gai yelled out.

Kakashi looked up at his friend. "Hm? I'm sorry, did you say something?" Kakashi asked innocently.

Gai looked hurt as his face contorted into mock anger. "Damn you Kakashi and your hip attitude!" The green beast bellowed loudly causing everyone present to cringe from the volume.

Kakashi eye smiled at him before turning back to his book. The white haired man then felt a spike of killing intent only to see Kurenai glaring at him and his book. He gave her another eye smile that only seemed to infuriate her further. "Looking good Kurenai." He teased.

All of a sudden a second killing intent joined Kurenai's and Kakashi opened his eye to see Asuma glaring daggers at him. Wait. Asuma?

Before things could get any worse, Hiruzen coughed silently to get the jonin's attention. Satisfied that they were all listening, even if Kurenai and Asuma looked like they wanted to kill Kakashi, the old man leaned back into his chair and drew a breath from his pipe. "You six," He pointed to the first six jonin sensei, "Thank you for your time and I wish you all the best of luck with your teams. You may leave now."

After the six bowed and left he faced Kakashi who had by now put away his book, slightly unnerved by the glares he had been receiving. "Well then Kakashi, nice of you to finally join us."

"The pleasure is mine Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied.

"What do you think about your current squad." Hiruzen inquired, curious as to Kakashi's choices. He wasn't complaining however, the team itself seemed well set up.

"I would say that Naruto and Sasuke together will be a threat if Naruto's actions against Osamu have been any indication last night. The girl Sakura is smart and has great control, if only she can get past her fan girl tendencies then we would have less problems. As for Tenten, all around weapons support and she can be anywhere from close to long range in combat." Kakashi answered seriously, reverting for a moment back to his ANBU captain persona. He was still unaware of his recent team's developments. But that was about to change.

There was a light knock on the door. "Enter." The hokage ordered after nodding towards Kakashi's statement. All the room's current occupants turned to face Itachi as he walked in through the door.

"Itachi Uchiha Hokage-sama. Reporting about the incident in Uchiha Training Ground three." The Uchiha reported stoically after bowing.

The old Hokage breathed out a puff of smoke with an eyebrow raised. "And?"

"It appears that the newly appointed Team Seven had been using it as a training ground, hokage-sama." The raven haired Uchiha answered.

Kakashi then turned to the new arrival. "If I am not mistaken, that incident was around three hours ago." Kakashi stated matter of factly. He continued when the Uchiha turned to him. "What took you so long before you arrived here to report?"

"My apologies, Kakashi-senpai. Your team requested that I test some of their new abilities and I have accompanied them since then." Itachi replied.

It was only then the group realized that Itachi was trying very hard not to breathe heavily and that his ANBU uniform was full of dirt and seemed to be slightly burnt by fire. The hokage asked the question on all their minds. "So what happened to you then?"

"Training dummy." The Uchiha replied once again stoically, but they noticed that he had a particularly sour taste in his mouth about being one. Itachi continued. "Naruto seems to have suddenly gained very good control of the Doton element along with his Fuuton and has been incredibly effective if not ingenious in their use. Together with Sasuke they are launching coordinated attacks that have proven incredibly difficult to avoid. Tenten does not have many skills save for her proficiency in weaponry. Although regularly she would be no match for me, she tends to stay far and toss in kunai or maces at the most unfortunate times for me while I was evading the two boys' Ninjutsu and I have had too many close calls for my liking. Then Sakura, she lives up to being best kunoichi in class. Although she took no part at all in the action, her genjutsu was very annoying. Her three teammates already were enough to deal with, but with her in the fold I did not know whether an attack I saw was real, fake or whether she was masking an attack and due to the amount of kunai and Ninjutsu flying around I found myself at a loss of time to effectively dispel the genjutsu. Even if I can see through most of it with no problem, sometimes she just uses barely anything so I feel a little dug of genjutsu while an attack is heading towards me. Because of that tug, I can no longer differentiate whether the attack is real or an illusion and I do not have the time available to figure it out so the safest thing for me to do is dodge. Multiply this predicament with ten more similar jutsus occurring simultaneously around you along with those that are invisible and the pestering kunai that always appears just as I forget about them. This however has nothing to say about the sheer firepower behind the techniques launched by my brothers. I am exhausted because my sharingan has been active for the entire three hours of that 'practice' and I used this meeting as an excuse to leave." Itachi explained tiredly. Everyone however could hear the pride present in his tired voice.

Asuma whistled. "Well will you look at that, the great Itachi Uchiha prodigy strained in a spar against a green genin squad."

The Uchiha glared at the bearded man. "Asuma-san, I would suggest you yourself engage them in a spar while we… evaluate… your performance against these 'green genin'."

"Yosh! Such a youthful team you have with yourself Kakashi! Fan those great flames of youth within them and let them grow into fine, young shinobi!" Gai yelled out before anything could get more serious. It had the desired effect as the hokage and Kurenai laughed while Kakashi looked deep in thought.

Noticing the shift in atmosphere Itachi turned back to Kakashi to ask him a question. "Kakashi-senpai, are you going to be doing the bell test of yours with them this year?" He smiled when Kakashi nodded. "Don't worry senpai, I won't ruin its purpose by telling them. I just want to warn you, I think my brothers will get a little carried away if you tell them to come at you with the intent to kill."

The masked man shrugged. "I can handle them."

Itachi shook his head. "Don't be overconfident senpai." He warned. "You are aware of Naruto's unique abilities I assume?"

Kakashi nodded. "Most jonin know about his powers, word was spread among us by the ANBU that were with you yesterday and also seen a little last year during the failed Uchiha coup." Kakashi informed him.

Itachi nodded. "His Ninjutsu grow in power at that state and I cannot see the chakra within him due to the armour. I also feel like stating that the team looks to Naruto as their captain when you are not around and they may outsmart you if you are not watching yourself. There is also the fact that the boys are… well… they value their time and may lose their temper if senpai is late."

Hiruzen laughed out loud in his seat. "We shall see Itachi. All those in this room are free to come here tomorrow to watch Kakashi's genin exam with his squad."

The room's occupants all grinned as Kakashi sweat dropped. "Seriously?"

The group's smirks all grew wider.

"Well then," Kakashi eye smiled, "I'll be taking my leave now guys, Hokage-sama. Ja ne!" He waved as he turned to walk out of the door.

"Kakashi, I thought you just received Itachi's warning about being late. I assume you are going to be late aren't you?" The Hokage asked.

Everyone could feel Kakashi's smirk beneath the mask. "I personally just want to see what they're going to do about it." The Copy Ninja replied before exiting the office. Behind the door he heard Itachi laughing. _'That bad huh?'_ He thought to himself. _'Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Tenten Jakonato, Sakura Haruno. Team seven. You guys seem to hold promise. Anyway, It won't hurt if I'm two hours late now will it?'_

* * *

(End Flashback)

And now, he was a victim of Naruto's infamous coloured paint. Oh well, It's not like it was that much of a bother as the majority of the paint had ended up only on his clothes. He would just have to head home, take a shower before changing his clothes then head to the training ground another few hours late. Kakashi silently wondered what his students would do to him but did not pay it that much attention. If he was late again then it was simply payback.

You can imagine his surprise however, when he got to the designated training ground two hours later at four, and it was empty. No pissed off students yelling at him, no revenge pranks and no massive exchange of Ninjutsu took place. He was slightly disappointed but decided to wait a little bit since they might have gone to take a nap. Waiting was no really a problem for Kakashi, he would simply take out his book to pass the time.

Two long hours later just as the sun was about to set, the four students appeared on the training ground. Kakashi was a little irritated. They had just made him wait. They were the first.

"Oh, hi there sensei!" Sakura greeted cheerily. "Why were you early?"

Kakashi felt his eye twitched but decided to try and keep his normal carefree persona instead. "Oh nothing, I just felt like it. What about you guys? Where have you been?"

Sakura smiled. "Well you see, after we left the academy we realized that we were hungry and decided to stop over a restaurant for some food…"

Tenten smiled and continued. "And then we met a black cat and decided to take the long way, unfortunately we ended up at my store and we decided to restock and sharpen some of our weapons." Tenten admitted.

The two girls then looked to Naruto who had a stupid grin on and acting sheepish. "Well you see, there was this old lady with a heavy cart, so we decided to help here, I'm sorry we're late."

The three then turned to Sasuke who seemed to be staring off into space. "Oh hi there Sasuke." Kakashi began. "You seem a little lost. That isn't good." He continued with an eye smile.

The raven haired boy turned to Kakashi lazily. "Hm? You say something?"

Kakashi's world froze with a stupid look on his face. _'Was this what Gai felt like every time?'_ The thought crossed his head. Then a second thought crossed by. _'They're copying me. Late, stupid excuses, hip attitude…'_ The masked jonin suddenly felt as if someone had crossed onto his territory. "I think you guys are copying me." He stated with a straight face and his arms crossed.

"What?" Naruto asked innocently.

"I said I think…"

"What?"

Kakashi growled. "I think…"

"It doesn't matter what you think!" Naruto laughed out before suddenly being forced to duck as a kunai whizzed over where his head was. "Come on Kakashi-sensei! That was cool 'ttebayo! Don't attack your students!" Naruto mocked as his other three teammates burst out laughing. Kakashi had fallen straight into that last one.

The jonin took deep breaths to calm himself down. Getting riled up by kids was embarrassing to say the least. Not to mention the fact that he especially felt like strangling the blonde kid, consequences be damned!

After a few minutes the man managed to calm down enough to talk politely to the children again. "Well kids, I think we got off on the wrong foot." He started.

"Then what foot was I supposed to get off on?" Naruto asked cheekily while Sasuke snickered.

Kakashi's eye twitched but for the sake of the greater good he swallowed down his irritation. "We can start with basic introductions to each other. Such as name, likes and dislikes."

"I don't see the need for that." Sasuke commented before gesturing to his three teammates. "Because without you here we already got to know each other much better than simple likes and dislikes."

"But I do not know them do I?" Kakashi responded. "It would only be fair then that you inform me."

Sakura shook her head. "You go first Kakashi-sensei. Even if it is just to show us how it's done."

The one eyed jonin sighed. "Very well then. My name is Kakashi Hatake and I like having many comrades, reading this book and wasting time when I am not on missions. As for dislikes, I hate people who sacrifice their comrades just for the mission and do not care about teamwork. There, that is me done, now it is your turn." He said as he pointed towards Naruto.

He blonde haired boy shrugged. "No thanks, don't feel like it."

Kakashi glared at him. "And why not?"

Sasuke answered for his friend. "Well we said nothing about revealing that information to you after your demonstration. So we are not really obliged to do so."

Kakashi had a feeling that pointless arguments such as these were going to be abundant in this team in the long run. "Fine then, I'll just tell you that tomorrow is the day that you guys will have your real genin exam."

Contrary to the shocked reactions that he was expecting, Kakashi was surprised when they all just smiled at him.

"Finally!" Tenten yelled. "We were waiting for you to get to the good part Kakashi-sensei."

Not for the first time that day, Kakashi sighed. "You guys knew?"

Sasuke laughed. "Of course we do! My mother is the Clan Head, remember?"

"Well then, show up here in this training ground at six sharp tomorrow morning. Don't be late." He informed them briefly. "Oh, and don't eat anything. You might regret it." With his piece said, the jonin disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

From the trees Kakashi looked on impressed when the team began scouting the training ground for any information on how to use it to their advantage the next day. _'I can't wait to face them tomorrow.'_ He thought randomly. _'If they are as good as Itachi says they are then I may have my hands full.'_

* * *

 **And that's a wrap. Nothing much but a filler chapter in here.**

 **Just so you know this will NOT be a NaruTen story. They knew each other from earlier on and she is more like an older sister for him.**

 **Hinata is no longer that shy. She has had a year already with all of her new friends and it would make no sense for her to be shy since Naruto is spending time with her unlike canon.**

 **Sakura had to be broken out of her fangirling habits. There was no other way to do this and I (Yatsushiro Ryko) do not really approve of character bashing much. Hopefully you will like the new one.**

 **Preview: Next chapter the boys get a new uniform and it is time for their genin test against Kakashi!**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	7. Chapter 7: True Genin Test

Chapter 7: True Genin Test

* * *

 **SURPRISE! Double chapter today!**

 **Yeah, Yatsushiro sent me two chapters to post, so we're doing a double chapter feature today!**

 **Nothing to say, so let's jump right in!**

* * *

(Training Ground 18)

By the time they had finished examining their training field for the next day it was already dark. Naruto and Sasuke had each taken Tenten and Sakura home respectively before meeting up just before they entered the Uchiha compound. The boys were mildly surprised when they entered their house and saw Mikoto in the company of Hitomi, Yugiri and Arashi.

"Ka-san, I still don't know why I'm here!" Arashi grumbled, his red hair shielding his emerald eyes that were glaring at his mother. "I could be asking Sakura-chan for a date or something!"

Yugiri laughed at her son's anger. "Well then sisters, I've got mine 'ttebane!" She exclaimed with barely contained glee as she grabbed onto Arashi.

"Hey!" The red haired boy cried out.

"And I've got mine!" Mikoto joined in by latching onto Sasuke's arm, the boy looking as confused as a fish out of water.

"And Naruto is mine then isn't he?" Hitomi said softly as she walked up to him and held his arm in hers.

The blonde boy looked up questioningly at the white eyed woman. "Hitomi-sama? Where are we going? What's going on?"

The three grown women looked at each other and laughed. "We're going shopping!" Yugiri leapt up happily.

The three boys frowned. "Why do we need to go with you then?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, it's not like we can help you much there." Naruto added.

"Like I would want to shop for woman's clothes! That's a waste of time 'ttebayo!" Arashi shouted out only to receive a harsh bonk on the head from his mother.

"Not for us silly!" Yugiri laughed out. "We're getting all three of you new clothes!"

The three boys paled considerably at that statement. "And we're throwing away all you're old clothes as well." Mikoto added. "Just to make sure you wear your new ones."

The three boys shared a glance and were all considering making a run for it until Hitomi spoke. "You're input in your new clothes will be valuable as well but we will make the final decision. Oh, and you aren't thinking of running away right now are you?" She asked sweetly.

Arashi gulped guiltily.

"Because if you are…" Yugiri threatened in a low voice as she stepped in between the other two women. "Then I doubt it's a good idea."

The veins in Hitomi's eyes suddenly bulged while Mikoto's sharingan flared into life. In between the doujutsu users, Yugiri let loose eight chains that hovered around all of them like hungry snakes. The killing intent they then shot towards the boys made them whimper in fear. Moms were scary. Naruto found Osamu a LOT less scary than this sight in front of him.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, their legendary powers receded leaving three very compliant boys to the mercy of their excited mothers and mother figures. Hitomi had asked to join in because she didn't have a son and was curious to give it a try.

"Let's set out right now and have some fun 'ttebane!" Yugiri chimed in happily as she dragged Arashi through the door.

* * *

(Three Hours Later)

Three very stressed out boys joyously burst out from a clothing store in the middle of Konoha's business district. The last three hours had practically been hell. First there was all the fussing about with what were needs and what were wants. Then it came to the fussing over style. Then it turned over to the fussing over colour. Then the fussing over the quality. Then fussing over size and practicality. And last but not least, fussing over price.

It was a constant argument against their mother's every choice but only in the last hour had they finally agreed on one format which all the boys agreed to share. They would follow Sasuke's style of clothing from the shirt, shorts and arm warmers that he wore as well as for the shin guards. They would however, add on to this. Underneath each of the black shirts and shorts were tight fitting long sleeves and what appeared to be tight fitting spandex similar to Gai's suit. There were also the additions of masks and hoods.

Sasuke vehemently argued for a face mask like Kakashi wore. Naruto and Sasuke's purpose for the mask were similar, to hide their faces. In Naruto's case it was to hide the whisker marks while in Sasuke's it was to hide his face to lessen the risk of fan girls that seemed to be slowly building. Arashi wanted one just to look cool.

Each of them also had deep hoods on the backs of each shirt that could completely cover their heads, effectively hiding their very distinguishable hair. Arashi's bright red, Naruto's golden blonde and Sasuke's unique hairstyle were all beacons in a crowd of people.

Their chosen attire gave them a very shinobi like appearance in all black save for the arm warmers and shin guards. It was then that the boys decided they did not want to look exactly like the other. The clothes were cool however so they decided to edit their attires based mostly on colours. The tight fitting inner parts and the masks would all be a different colour for each boy.

At first, the older women had refused until Naruto and Sasuke began explaining the purpose behind each choice of colour and that the mothers could choose the shade. For Sasuke, his code colour was red. His reason being that his sharingan was red and that the colour would match nicely and make him a little more intimidating. It did not compromise stealth in the dark either and when they chose a very dark shade of red Sasuke was satisfied. Naruto had also argued with the same points that his brother had used being that his eyes were orange and that a very dark orange would also match. Arashi for some reason chose yellow. One of a kind red hair with startling emerald eyes with a black suit… and yellow clashed with it all. He looked like a walking traffic light. They had to admit however, that it was an enormous improvement regarding the yellow jumpsuit he had been wearing previously.

The three women looked at the boys with pride. They looked good and carried an aura of mysteriousness around them because of their quiet attitude. Sasuke and Naruto had their arms crosses and hoods up calmly taking in their surroundings. Arashi however was a different matter. The red headed Uzumaki began leaping up and down excitedly about how awesome he looked that people gave the mysterious yellow idiot a wide berth.

The girls on the street however, paid the dancing traffic light no heed but instead eyed the two under the hoods. The only things they could clearly see was their hands and toes through the black sandals the boys currently wore. Sasuke was happy that they did not know him or Naruto and he knew that as long as both of them remained silent then they were going to be 'cool' and just fine.

 **(See Yatsushiro Ryko's profile for an idea of what the boys look like.)**

After the boys had finished their productive -if somewhat forced- shopping spree, they realized just how tired they really were. The night passed quickly enough for them to end up comfortably in their beds, unaware of the heated meeting their mother had attended right after.

* * *

(Council Chambers)

"Why did you let it graduate from the academy!" A civilian councilor shouted out, distaste evident in his voice.

"I agree with him!" Yelled out another. "Putting it in the academy was bad enough! Now you have let it graduate and are practically allowing it to grow even more powerful! I thought you were better than that hokage-sama!"

Hiruzen sat at the head of the room glaring at each and every one of the civilian councilors that were vehemently protesting against Naruto's graduation. His sentiments were being shared by the majority of the shinobi side of the council as most had been convinced otherwise by their children. The ignorant fools could not even catch the hint and Hiruzen felt his temper rising higher and higher, threatening lash out.

"We should have killed it all those years ago when he was still helpless! Now what will he do with this power? His parents should have thought twice before allowing such a demon spawn to exist!"

This last phrase hit hard on those shinobi who were aware of Naruto's heritage and the room was very quickly filled by oppressive killing intent, none more so however than Hiruzen. The old man let loose the strongest amount of killing intent that made even the ANBU present in the room come close to soiling themselves. In a show uncharacteristic anger the Sandaime smashed the table in front of him into two as he yelled, "ENOUGH!"

Almost immediately the room was silenced as they put their full attention towards the angered hokage. "The civilian council, I understand, has been the one to summon this meeting involving ALL of the major clan heads of the village. The reason for summoning apparently is the recent graduation of Naruto Uzumaki. I do not see the purpose to continue such a pointless meeting so I want to end it. The civilian council wants me to take the boy out of the active roster of shinobi, then it is denied." Hiruzen stated with authority.

The foolish councilors however restarted their protests once again, unaware of the impending danger. "But Hokage-sama! He needs to be taken out!"

"On what grounds?" Hiruzen all but growled.

This got the aggressors thinking about what they could use. Mebuki Haruno decided to step up. "I suggest for the safety of his current teammates. My daughter is on the same team as it and I fear that harm may come not only to her, but to the Uchiha and the other girl present on team seven as well."

Hiruzen eyed the blonde woman his gaze bored into her. "Then I suggest asking your beloved daughter of her opinions regarding Naruto once you can. You may be surprised but the entire team has seemed to manage forming strong bonds with each other and that is something that is essential in the stability of the group and separating them now will be a mistake." The other shinobi in the room nodded their heads in understanding. In the world of shinobi, bonds with each other could mean life and death.

"Doesn't that run the risk of it corrupting them Hokage-sama?"

"And what, may I ask, will the boy corrupt them with? As far as I can see Naruto is loyal to the village and follows orders as best as he can. Are these not good qualities?" Hiruzen countered, getting ready to lose his patience once again.

"His pranks. He apparently has no respect for the village or anyone of authority. Defacing the hokage monument should be very clear to his amount of respect held here and the way he addresses us is also very lowly."

"I beg to differ." Hiashi decided it was time to start talking. "I have shown the boy fair enough treatment which is what he rightfully deserves. He refers to Hitomi and myself with the –sama honorific and he behaves whenever around us. This goes to show that he will only respect those who respect him." Hiashi activated his Byakugan as he glared at the man that had snarled at him while he had been speaking.

"And I have to say, he might actually be a good influence to his teammates." Shikaku yawned as he stretched. "As troublesome as his pranks may be, think about it. How come he is never caught while preparing it? How ingenious and creative are his designs? And why is it so difficult for our ANBU to hunt down an academy student in their own village? Each prank in itself is, in a way, a form of troublesome training. Although I admit that the cleanup is a drag." Having said his part the Nara clan head lowered his head back to the table, hoping to catch a few minutes of sleep.

Hiruzen nodded his head. "Good points Shikaku. I guess we will have to up our ANBU training program. But this discussion is closed. Naruto Uzumaki will remain a ninja of Konoha."

"But…"

The man never got to finish as Hiruzen's killing intent spiked once again and he stomped on the already broken remains of the table. "Shut up and LISTEN!" Hiruzen yelled, adding chakra to his voice making it nearly deafening. "First of all this meeting is irrelevant. I have been too lenient with this council and I will restate a few ground rules as some of you seem to be forgetting your place." The hokage began as he glared more specifically at the civilian side of the council.

"Firstly and most importantly, this council WILL NOT tell me what to do. I am the Hokage and you are merely here to offer your views and opinions but I will still be the one with the final say in the end. You seem to have forgotten that this is MY village that runs under ME. Are. We. Clear?" The normally kind hokage's voice now carried a grim authority that nobody present wanted to question and they all nodded.

"Secondly. The civilian council has forgotten that it has absolutely no say in the shinobi affairs of Konoha. You have been appointed in this position to help me manage civilian affairs but anything, ANYTHING regarding shinobi will be dealt by us and us alone. This very council signed the agreement with this statement present on it, or have you forgotten? You are no one important. More like a manager of a certain district if you ask me but other than that you have no other power or authority. This is a shinobi village and every ninja with a hitae-ate is out of your jurisdiction and answers only to me or a shinobi of higher rank. This means that Naruto was out of your reach the minute he exited that academy with that forehead protector. I do not care if you run the academy. I was planning on changing that anyway. I wonder why I allowed civilians to deal with the curriculum of our future shinobi. I will see to this." Hiruzen added as he stared down each and every member of the civilian council that all looked like they wanted to be somewhere else right now. It was a harsh blow to their pride.

"I will also address this situation of ignorance towards Naruto. If he needs something then he should get it while being treated as you would anyone else. Before you open your mouths take a moment to think. I am not showing him favoritism, I am ordering you to treat him as Shinobi of Konoha and refusing to do so shall be treated accordingly, as treason. Ah yes, there is also another matter I appear to need to deal with. It has come to my attention that you pesky pigs are taking every opportunity to gain even more unnecessary rights and money through illegal means that you think I have not noticed. I have had it with you. Koharu, Homura. You both will accompany me back to my office to review anything that I may have carelessly sighed to find these loopholes. Danzo, get your ROOT agents and gather information from every trader here in Konoha and their transactions and sales as well as details. These deceptions will be cleared and punishment dealt. I will not stand to have corruption within my village. Is this clear?"

By now the civilian council was sweating profusely. What had happened to the Kindly Grandfather they could push around? They had suddenly been reminded that this man was known as the God of Shinobi for very good reason and old age hadn't really dulled him that much. His three advisors however were very pleased with the recent turns of events. This was the man they would follow as Hokage. Not the senile old fool they had mistaken him to be.

"I have other things to be handling instead of wasting my time here with you. Expect to be summoned tomorrow at anytime during the early morning. If there is nothing else to be said then you may all leave. NOW!" When no one moved the Sandaime summoned fire to both of his hands as he glared at them. Almost immediately after, the room had been cleared of civilians while most of the shinobi present bowed to their Hokage before bursting out laughing. Despite his earlier outbursts, Hiruzen felt a smile tugging at his lips as he sat down to get to work with the 'rational' part of his council. What an interesting day.

* * *

(The next morning)

At nine the next morning, give or take a few minutes, the two girls of team seven had found their way to the Uchiha compound in search of the brothers. Kakashi had instructed them to arrive at six in the morning without any breakfast. Unfortunately both girls had decided to sleep in until they had been forced awake by their parents. After freshening up and having a hearty breakfast, the girls went straight for the boys.

After a brief knock, Mikoto answered the door and smiled at the two. "Good morning to you two. I assume you are the teammates of my children and that you are here to collect them. I am sorry however, they don't seem to want to get out of bed. I hope the two of you will have more luck." She explained gently as she opened the door to give way to them.

Tenten cracked her knuckles. "Don't worry Mikoto-san. We'll get them up, right Sakura?" Tenten asked, grinning sadistically.

The pink haired girl returned the grin. "Yes, we will. Yugiri-san, where is their room?"

Mikoto chuckled to herself when two minutes later, she heard Naruto scream. This was closely followed by Sasuke a few seconds later. The Uchiha clan head eyed the two girl's faces suspiciously as they walked down the stairs with grins reaching their ears. She raised an eyebrow, "What did you two girls do?"

"Oh not much." Tenten replied jovially. "We gave Naruto a nightmare where Kami banned ramen from this world, and Sasuke, well, we showed him a future where he only got the chunin rank at around a hundred years old."

Despite herself Mikoto burst out laughing. She would love to try this on her sons if she got the chance. Not to mention the fact that she now had some dirt on them. As she cooked breakfast, Mikoto decided to get to know her sons' teammates a little more.

Ten minutes later a grumpy blonde and a grumpier Uchiha appeared next to the table fully dressed in their new attire but with the hoods down. The girls gave a nod of approval at the attire and how much more mature and threatening it made the two while said boys growled at being messed with in their sleep. The good natured banter carried on for a while before Mikoto told them to get going as the Hokage had just called a council meeting where she was expected to appear. Laughing heartedly, team seven made their way to the training ground fully prepared for their genin test.

* * *

(Training Grounds)

Kakashi was new to this. The mere concept of it got him irritated. He was being made to wait. He had shown up three hours late for the supposed genin test that team seven was supposed to have but it was still an entire HOUR before he managed to spot the team making its way towards him. The white haired man narrowed his eyes at the new appearance of the boys. 'Are they imitating me?' he asked himself, unsure whether to be proud or offended. He decided just to be friendly for the meantime, they were still young anyway.

"Hello my wayward students, how nice of you to finally show up." Kakashi greeted them with an eye smile.

He was slightly put off when both boys put their hoods up and crossed their arms. Afterwards they seemed to stay still and since he couldn't even see their eyes due to the hood, he had no idea as to what they were thinking. Sakura and Tenten however seemed to only find his reaction to their teammates funny and were giggling at their sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei, can we start the genin exam now that we're finally here?" Sasuke asked.

The white haired man studied the new outfits of his male students. Both of them were acting accordingly to the attire and from what he could see, a statue had just spoken to him as the faces were hidden. "Yes, we will. Do you see these?" Kakashi asked while dangling three bells in front of them. He continued after the girls nodded, simply assuming that Naruto and Sasuke were watching him. "You're objective is for each of you to get a bell within a three hour timeframe. If you fail to do so then you will fail the test and all of you will be going back to the academy. I advise that you come at me with the intent to kill or you will not get a bell."

"Sensei," Sakura called out as she raised her hand. "If we need to each get a bell, then why are there only three bells when there are four of us?"

Kakashi's smiling eye was ever present as he gave them their answer. "Oh yes, I almost forgot. When the time is up, whoever doesn't have a bell will be sent back to the academy while the other three will remain in my team. In short, at least one of you will fail today."

Contrary to what he may have believed, team seven didn't protest or turn amongst themselves as he had hoped. They simply looked at each other and nodded, signaling something that he could not see. _'What are you guys up to?'_ Kakashi asked himself.

He tensed a little when Sasuke walked forward to face him while the other three stayed back to observe. Once he got close, the Uchiha broke into a run towards Kakashi.

The white haired man ducked under a flying roundhouse kick and raised his arm to block a follow up kick to his head. He swiped Sasuke's jab to the side and tried to punch him in the ribs only for Sasuke to dodge a little to the side before swinging his left arm towards Kakashi's face.

Kakashi backed up just enough to be out of reach of the punch before stepping forward for a counter. Luckily he noticed that Sasuke hadn't stopped turning and instead had continued spinning on his left foot to bring up his right hell for Kakashi.

The white haired man caught Sasuke's foot and watched as Sasuke used his grip against him by bringing up his other leg to target Kakashi who was forced to let go of the captured limb. While moving back he barely moved his head to the side just in time for a kunai to nick his hair.

Kakashi then noticed Sasuke going through a few hand seals before taking in a deep breath. **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Grand Fireball) A large ball of flame shot out of Sasuke's mouth towards Kakashi who raised a water barrier to protect himself. **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)

The flames were extinguished soon enough and when the smoke cleared Kakashi saw Sasuke standing still doing nothing. Then he felt a small tug of chakra and realized that he had somehow become caught in a genjutsu. _'But how? When? Sasuke isn't that proficient at Genjutsu!'_ Kakashi thought. The one eyed man raised his hand into a seal and chanted, "Kai!"

To his relief the Genjutsu had been a very low level one and went away quickly. To his horror however, the genjutsu had been masking the presence of another enormous fireball that he had to dive away from. Upon getting up he noticed another fireball heading his way and he frowned as he felt the slight disruption of genjutsu. Upon dispelling it he discovered that the latest fireball had been merely an illusion. A very good illusion at that.

He noticed Sasuke take in another deep breath and grimaced. Why was the boy throwing out fireballs like this? He watched the fireball grow but felt another pull of genjutsu. What was this? Another illusion of a fireball? Kakashi shook his head to clear his thoughts and dispelled the genjutsu, only to find that it wasn't working. **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) Kakashi whispered out without further questioning about why the illusion hadn't dispelled. He watched as his water barrier managed to extinguish the fireball once again. He narrowed his eyes. If the fireball had been an illusion why was his water wall reacting to it? It was a good thing he was near a river otherwise he would be feeling a large drain on his chakra for calling out this much water. One thing was for sure, that last fireball was real. Then what was that Genjutsu he dispelled for? He couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't during that instant.

Kakashi turned to glance at Sakura when he heard her laughing. "Oh Look! Kakashi sensei is also being affected by my Genjutsu stuff! The plan to test Kakashi-sensei first worked awesome Naruto!" Sakura laughed out.

Realization slapped Kakashi. Hadn't Itachi warned him of the illusions that Sakura had been providing to aid her team? And now they had just made their intentions clear that they were testing if the illusions worked on him or not. They did actually have potential to become a team after all.

He was brought out of his musings when he finally noticed Naruto moving. The blonde boy cracked his neck audibly and stretched. "Well now that's done with, I guess it's time for me to help Sasuke. Tenten, watch our backs." Naruto ordered before leaping towards Kakashi at high speed.

The Jonin barely moved out of the way from the vicious punch that would have shattered his face if he didn't move. Before he could launch a counter attack he was forced to dodge as Naruto's fist soared over head and he moved back before his head got taken off by the boy.

Seeing an opening, Kakashi gathered chakra to his fist and punched Naruto as hard as he could in the ribs. It was better to take the juggernaut down first as he seemed to be the one leading the team. He gasped in pain when he felt his knuckles almost shatter despite being coated in chakra and leapt away from the juggernaut that didn't even seem fazed.

His internal senses tingling, Kakashi ducked a little just for Sasuke's foot to sail over his head. Since Sasuke was behind him, he felt a push that caused him to stumble towards Naruto before tripping. Looking up in surprise, the jonin managed to roll away before the ground beside him was shattered by a powerful stomp from Naruto.

While getting up he managed to spot three insane blurs of black whizzing towards him and managed to catch the first kunai and use it to deflect the other two. He looked to the source to see Tenten standing a little way back with what looked like an oversized sealing scroll. So she was going to try and catch him off guard. Not a bad plan actually considering how he had his hands temporarily filled with the two boys. Sakura was nowhere to be seen which was also bad since her genjutsu made it very confusing for him to fight properly. And Naruto wasn't even using his unique powers or Ninjutsu yet and he doubted Sasuke was only capable of the grand fireball technique.

Realizing the danger of his current situation Kakashi quickly unveiled his sharingan eye to aid him in the battle. He was surprised when he could practically feel Sasuke and Naruto grinning.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke called out, revealing three tomoe in blood red eyes that matched the colour of his mask and sleeves.

"Tsuihogan!" Naruto called out as his eyes lost their pupils and his entire eye coloured a bright, dazzling orange. "Let's make this interesting!" The blonde jinchuriki shouted as his form took on that of Bumblebee, the special seal Yugiri gave him absorbed his clothes preventing them from getting ripped apart and stored them for later. The yellow robot cracked its knuckles. _"I won't increase in size yet because I want to have fun!"_ It exclaimed in a high pitched, whirring voice. **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Scarring Wind Tunnel)

The horizontal cyclone of wind viciously tore up the ground in front of it as it headed straight for the masked jonin that made his escape by a Kawarimi with a log. He watched on fascinated as the log he used was shredded completely by the wind tunnel that burrowed deep into the ground afterwards like a drill. A massive drill.

Kakashi then felt heat going up his back and turned to see Sasuke standing behind him. **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire)

He countered with the technique that would use the least amount of chakra as with how things were going, he would need as much as he had. **"Suiton: Mizurappa!"** (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) The two techniques collided head on for a few seconds with steam forming in the middle before Kakashi's jutsu finally over powered Sasuke's.

The Uchiha was now running towards Kakashi with a kunai in hand. 'Wait. He's not going as fast as he can.' Kakashi noticed just before he saw a shadow getting larger at his feet. He rolled to the side and was lucky to avoid the miniature Bumblebee's axe kick. He then leapt to the side when Bumblebee sucked in air. **"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"** The tree behind him flew back from the force of the gale which Kakashi was thankful to be away from.

 _'Are these kids even genin!?'_ Kakashi asked himself pointlessly, already knowing the answer. From the corner of his eye to his right he noticed Naruto charging towards him and leapt backwards, only to receive a shattering kick to his ribs from the real Naruto. _'Damn it Sakura!'_ Kakashi growled. He partially understood now what Itachi had meant when he said they worked as a team.

He then noticed that Naruto and Bumblebee were standing next to each other and wondered why the boys were whispering. He grew uneasy when they nodded to each other. **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire)

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

The two attacks the merged with the tunneling wind accompanied by fire swirling around it, burning hotter than normal. _'Seriously!? A combination attack?!'_ Kakashi screamed mentally. He spotted a log and managed to do a **Kawarimi** into the open clearing and he watched as the combination attack of wind and fire seared through several trees like a hot knife on butter.

He suddenly realized that he was in a less crowded section of the forest he had been forced into and he noticed the bun haired girl at the edge of the clearing grinning at him. She threw a kunai almost lazily at him and he felt the need to sweat drop. After what he had just been through this was almost a joke. Then to his horror two normal Naruto shadow clones appeared on either side of Tenten.

 **"Ninpo: Kunai Tajuu Kage Bunshin"** (Ninja Art: Kunai Mass Shadow Clones) The Kage Bunshin on the right cried out and Kakashi watched on with dread as the lone kunai formed a massive fall of flying steel.

 **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!** " (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath) The already deadly wall shot forward at an unbelievable rate, quickly closing the distance towards the jonin.

 **"Doton: Doryuu Heki!"** (Earth Release: Mud Wall) Kakashi countered. The mud wall raised itself quickly enough to block most of the onslaught and Kakashi winced as he heard thousands of kunai thud into the back of the wall.

His relief was short lived when Bumblebee and Sasuke made it out of the forest on his side of the wall. Orange eyes flashed with glee. **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) The large boulder shot towards Kakashi and was further boosted by Bumblebee's next jutsu. **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

The masked jonin poured chakra into his feet and began running sideways along the mud wall to move out of the way. The mud wall collapsed almost as soon as the giant rock barreled into it leaving a smirking Tenten on the other side along with two clones that were ready to assist.

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel) Both clones cried out as two tunnels formed to chase after the fleeing jonin.

Kakashi was now sandwiched in between two deadly fronts and was doing his best to dodge anything thrown at him. The problem was, Sakura had suddenly joined in the assault and he could no longer tell which attacks were fake, real or if there were any invisible ones threatening to seriously injure him. _'Itachi, how did you survive this chaos!?'_

 **"Doton: Tsuin Kabe Sukasshu!"** (Earth Release: Twin Wall Squash) Naruto yelled.

Kakashi found himself trapped in a narrow passage in between two gigantic walls that were slowly moving to crush him. At the ends of each tunnel there was someone waiting; Tenten at one end and Sasuke on the other.

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Grand Fireball)

 **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath)

 _'Nope, not going out that way.'_ Kakashi decided and turned to take his chances with Tenten only to see a wall of Kunai approaching him. _'Damn, not this way either.'_ Kakashi did the only thing at the moment and ran up the wall.

Just as he jumped over it the twin walls crashed into each other with a sickening crunch. While in mid air, Tenten managed to get a lucky shot and a kunai found its way into Kakashi's upper leg. It wasn't embedded too deep but he could no longer fight safely for the moment. One careless move and he could die. _'Maybe I shouldn't have included the attack to kill part in this.'_ Kakashi mused before making a lightning clone to take his place as he disappeared.

Landing in a tree not too far away, Kakashi quickly treated the wound as he watched the battle unfold. One of the Naruto clones had transformed into a miniature Barricade along with the mace and had joined the mix with Bumblebee.

The clone didn't last two minutes. Barricade had managed to slam his mace straight into the clone's skull as it exploded into lightning. Luckily for team seven only Barricade and Bumblebee were within range of the blast and the two robots didn't seem very much hurt at all. Kakashi winced as the clone's memories returned to him. Those robots hit hard.

He saw the team gather in the middle of the clearing to discuss. Well, three members did. Sakura was probably under orders to remain hidden. Suddenly he felt a wave of pure chakra wash over him and he blinked.

"Found him!" The clone that had released the Chakra Pulse yelled out happily as he pointed directly at the white haired man who cursed. He had been masking his chakra to stay hidden. If only he knew Naruto had that ability he could have remained hidden for a little longer.

He watched in awe as Bumblebee and Barricade increased their size to their full heights to tower over the others before reality slapped him. _'Crap, this guy is going to go all out!'_

 _"Kakashi-sensei."_ Barricade called out in a harsh, gruff voice. _"We have decided that we do not want you in the forest. We will now force you out."_ The red eyed robot stated before charging along with Bumblebee.

 _'What the…'_ Kakashi didn't get to finish as he was forced to abandon the tree he was resting on as it was shattered to bits, courtesy of Barricade's mace. The two robots then began an unrelenting assault on the masked jonin. Throwing trees, chunks of dirt and using their jutsu to wreck a path had Kakashi running nonstop from place to place while assaulted by –what were in his opinion- two psychotically destructive robots, a pyromaniac, a horde of kunai and a dreamer. Knowing it would probably be worse outside of the forest then inside; the masked jonin tried his best to remain within the forest. However, due to the current circumstances, he reluctantly made his way to the original field of the training ground. Behind him lay a trail of destruction caused by his never tiring pursuers.

Now that he was in the middle of the field, he faced all four members of team seven standing side by side once again. Although maybe it was considered five members since Naruto was Bumblebee and Barricade. Shaking his head to clear his musings, he decided to check how much time he had left and what he saw made him groan audibly. There was still two and a half hours that he had to live through and that was in no way appealing.

Trying to buy himself a little more time, the jonin dropped a smoke bomb to temporarily get out of team seven's cross hairs. **"Doton: Moguragakure."** (Earth Release: Hidden Mole) Kakashi whispered as he burrowed quickly underground.

Up above ground Naruto sent out a chakra pulse to check for Kakashi again and whether he was hiding under a genjutsu. When he found nothing he grew slightly confused. Kakashi wouldn't run from a battle. That left only one thing. He was underground. Despite improving his chakra pulse range and quality, Naruto couldn't accurately figure out what was underground as rocks and people gave back very similar readings. Well, there was a way to fix that. Barricade and Bumblebee picked up the other three members of team seven and placed them on their shoulders before the two massive robots stood back to back. **"Doton: Jishin Hakushu!"** (Earth Release: Seismic Clap) Both transformers cried out as they clapped their over sized hands together.

Because they were standing back to back, the seismic waves emanating from both of them increased and tore up most of the surrounding clearing, leaving deformed and crumbled rock strewn about in a deep crater. It was as if a small meteor had just landed there in that field. In between two large pieces of debris was a very surprised looking Kakashi.

It wasn't everyday you got flushed from what was usually a very good hiding strategy and it took the white haired man a little longer before realizing that he hadn't gotten as much rest time as he would have liked. Kakashi leapt up into the air and decided to try a few of his more dangerous techniques. Naruto seemed capable of keeping the team safe, or so he hoped. **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire) Being more experienced in the jutsu than Sasuke as well as having more chakra and greater chakra control, the flames he breathed out were much more intense and enormous in size as they rushed towards their target.

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Grand Fireball) Sasuke called out.

 _'What?' Kakashi thought. 'That fireball won't be enough to defend against my attack!'_

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath) Barricade yelled out.

Kakashi frowned. **'Well, here it comes. I shouldn't lose faith in them after all.'**

The already enormous fireball roared into life as it charged straight through Kakashi's stream of flames. The masked jonin's eyes widened in surprise when the massive ball of flames gain even more power from Kakashi's jutsu, absorbing it and adding to its size. **"Doton: Doryuuheki!"** (Earth Release: Mud wall) The one eyed man crouched next to the wall as the combination attack slammed into it. Even from the other side of the barrier Kakashi winced as he felt the blistering heat cause sweat to drop from his blow. When the flames died down Kakashi jumped over the wall that had probably saved his life.

Suddenly he heard a cry of **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** coming from Naruto and leapt off the wall as it crumbled from the impact of the massive boulder. He created a shadow clone just as he dropped a smoke bomb to mask its presence. Satisfied, he made his escape into the trees, happy to leave his clone for a while.

 _"Ne, Kakashi-sensei."_ Barricade called out as the smoke cleared. _"I think it's time to show you some of our combinations. Team seven: Combination One."_ It instructed.

The clone tilted its head questioningly while the original watched intently from the tree line.

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** Sasuke yelled as he unleashed another massive fireball.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** Barricade shouted out as a large rock shot out from in front of him. The boulder easily caught up with the fireball and Kakashi was intrigued when the boulder caught fire. It could now be considered a giant flaming rock. _'Great. Here is another combination move.'_ Kakashi scowled.

Bumblebee then put his metallic hands into a seal. **"Doton: Tamaishi Kage Bunshin!"** (Earth Release: Boulder Shadow Clones) The solitary flaming rock then multiplied into seven.

The Kakashi clone realized the potential danger and created two other bunshin alongside himself that spread out, ready to give the original enough time to rest.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** Both robots called out as the strong gust of wind produced practically flung the flaming rocks even faster towards their targets. This wasn't the only affect however as the fires on the rocks burned even brighter.

Up in the trees the original Kakashi watched in trepidation wondering how his clones would deal with this threat. One of the three used a Kawarimi to get out of harm's way only to get dispelled by a kunai to the head thrown by Tenten. _'Okay, no Kawarimi while dodging that.'_ Kakashi mentally listed.

Another of the clones tried to dash to the edge of the line and seemed out of danger for a moment before being suddenly dispelled. _'What?!'_ Kakashi thought slightly shocked before his clones memories came back to him. _'Ah. Sakura's genjutsu hid those some of them to hit people who thought they were safe. Clever.'_ Kakashi complimented her.

The only clone that made it out 'alive' was the one that had used the hidden mole technique to pass underneath the danger. It didn't last long before Barricade and Bumblebee tore up the field again with another seismic clap, leaving the clone vulnerable.

 **"Tajuu Kage Bunshin!"** Naruto yelled as hundreds of him appeared around the edges of the artificial crater. Together they began bombarding the poor clone with the massive rocks as it skillfully weaved in and out of the rocks that threatened to dispel it.

It took Kakashi a moment before he realized that no fire jutsu was being used. _'Wait a minute. Where's Sasuke?'_ He managed to leap off the branch just in time before it shattered.

"Oh damn it Kakashi-sensei! You didn't have to move!" A Naruto clone pouted from behind him just as Sasuke appeared. **"Katon: Ryuuka!"**

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

Kakashi scowled beneath his mask as he was forced back into the clearing along with his clone. Said clone was instantly dispelled as its momentary distraction had cost it. Now the masked jonin was alone in the middle of the crater.

Off to the side he saw Tenten and Sakura standing unguarded. Desperate for a distraction, Kakashi decided to hit a low blow by targeting the two girls. **"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"** (Water release: Water Dragon Bullet) A giant water dragon with yellow eyes erupted from the nearby stream and gave a mighty roar before charging towards the two girls.

According to plan, Bumblebee jumped in front of the two while shouting, **"Doton: Doryuuheki!"** An oversized wall shot up and the large dragon smashed hopelessly into it before losing its shape and turning instead into a giant puddle.

 _'That wall is way too big. What a waste of chakra._ ' Kakashi commented to himself.

 **"Doton: Youshanai Kabe Boukou!"** (Earth Release: Unrelenting Wall Assault) Suddenly, boulders of all different sizes ranging from small pebbles to human sized boulders began spewing from every inch of the wall like a machine gun making an unrelenting wave of rock that Kakashi was having trouble avoiding.

In desperation the masked jonin took out a kunai and began channeling lightning chakra through the kunai. Kakashi felt a little safer when he heard the lightning crackling along the kunai. His sharingan flitted about mercilessly in his eye socket as he moved at his top speed to dodge and slice through the incoming earth.

The clones that had originally been bombarding his clone also chose that moment to renew their attack on the original that was obviously pinned down at the bottom of the crater.

Kakashi cursed. He felt like he was in a war all over again. It didn't help that he couldn't see every single projectile and sometimes he didn't even know if it was real. _'Sakura I swear this is getting annoying!'_ Kakashi growled as a small rock connected and sent him flying.

Opposite from the deadly wall that had yet to seize firing, Tenten launched another lone kunai that was multiplied and given extra momentum by accompanying Naruto clones. Kakashi barely managed to raise a wall in time to stop the horde of kunai.

Along the masked man's peripheral vision, he noticed Sasuke walking next to the 'wall of death' as he had now deemed it. Breathing a steady stream of fire perpendicular to the wall caused the already deadly ammunition to catch fire making it even harder for Kakashi to cut through rocks without getting burnt.

While finding difficulty in footing due to the piling up earth, he noticed Sasuke split into two with the other one aiming a jutsu at the sky.

 **"Katon: Housenka!"** (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower) the Uchiha yelled out, firing a multitude of smaller fireballs high into the sky.

 _'What was that? Those would have been much more useful if he fired them at me.'_ Kakashi mused, though silently thankful he hadn't.

 **"Doton: Iwa no Ame!"** (Earth Release: Rock Rain) Barricade declared in a booming voice as thousands of human sized rocks appeared in the sky. Kakashi's heart dropped at the sight. Wasn't he dealing with enough? He would really have to talk to these kids later about holding back in spars. Then again he HAD told them that they should come at him with intent to kill. Boy was he regretting that now.

Even if his mind was temporarily flying, Kakashi's body reacted all the same as the boulders and rocks being fired at him from the ground had not stopped. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the raining rocks catch fire on their way down from Sasuke's earlier phoenix flower technique and cursed out loud. Great. Just great.

 **"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"** (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) Kakashi called out as he sent a strong gust of wind to temporarily give him some room to form hand seals. **"Doton: San-Sou Hogo Doumo!"** (Earth Release: Three Layered Protective Dome) The thick, three layered dome formed as fast as it was able to and just as it shut, the first loud thuds resonated within the closed interior where Kakashi took a deep breath to sigh in relief. He plopped down uncharacteristically onto the floor as he tried to catch a breath.

 **"Kage Bunshin."** Kakashi summoned a clone. It nodded before disappearing underground to try and assess the situation safely. The original Kakashi didn't want to risk heading back out for a while. Better his clone than him.

Basking in his momentary rest, Kakashi listened closely to the voices outside as they continued to throw jutsu at him mercilessly. Then again it might have just been Naruto.

 **"Doton: Asu Supaiku Meiro!"** (Earth Release: Earth Spike Maze) Kakashi heard. Kakashi's curiosity peaked but he patiently waited. Soon enough his shadow clone dispelled itself and Kakashi found himself in a very unfavorable predicament. His defensive style had gotten him trapped within a gigantic maze made of giant spikes of earth consisting of different sizes and coming out of the ground at different angles. The clone's memories informed him that it was very difficult to find his way out.

Kakashi formed another clone to go and investigate. No sooner than he sent it out he heard two more attacks ring out. **"Katon: Gouryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire)

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

Kakashi grimaced as his clone's memories returned to him. Apparently the plan had been to trap someone in this maze. If the Earth spikes hadn't killed him as they had been forming, then the boy's would finish the job. While an opponent was trapped they would create a blazing inferno to make sure nothing inside the maze survived. He commended the brilliant, deadly idea as even through all three domes Kakashi felt the heat burn his skin.

The masked jonin created one last clone and ordered it to head underground and only show itself once it reached the edge of the clearing safely.

As quickly as it arrived, the blazing inferno outside disappeared, leaving a very confused Kakashi. Did they think he was dead? Somehow he didn't believe that. There was a sinking feeling deep in his stomach.

 **"Doton: Zen'nou Suramu!"** (Earth Release: Almighty Slam)

 **"Fuuton: Kaze no Hogo!"** (Wind Release: Protection of the Breeze)

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"**

 _'Another combination attack?'_ Kakashi wondered. _'How dangerous could this one be?'_ Kakashi was put out of his musings when he felt himself the small tingle of his body being pulled. That only meant one thing. He was being summoned.

If this was happening then he knew that whatever the next attack had been it had frightened his clone enough to summon him out of the dome. It was a special technique that he had developed with the help of his former sensei the Yondaime. He had a seal placed on his back that allowed his clones to summon him away from danger by simply using the same hand seals as the **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** (Summoning technique). The technique had gotten him out of a good many tight situations safe and sound and he was regretting not using it earlier. He underestimated these kids, that much was for sure.

 **"Tamaishi Kage Bunshin!"** (Boulder Shadow Clone)

 _'Okay, that doesn't sound good.'_ Kakashi thought as he gave into the pull of the summoning.

He poofed into existence next to his clone at the edge of the clearing and gave it a questioning look before looking towards the destroyed training field. Even though they were probably a good mile away, what Kakashi saw made his jaw drop low. There were no less than ten, three-storey large rocks rapidly descending onto the maze that he was supposedly trapped in. Not only that, the wind coating around the rocks had caught fire making the meteorites streak fire on the way down. And if this wasn't enough on top of each one there seemed to be three Naruto clones. He barely heard what they chanted next but he definitely heard it.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

The already blazing infernos on each meteorite roared as they grew in size while they plummeted even faster than before to the already abused ground. It was a spectacle to see. The impact caused on the ground certainly lived up to its namesake.

The ground trembled violently as the shockwave past through it followed closely by the displaced air and debris. The deafening explosion shot outwards with the flames almost licking Kakashi as he was thrown back by the sheer force. It didn't help that he was partially blinded by the immense amount of light that seemed to have burned his retinas.

He collided powerfully with several trees before rolling to a stop. Kakashi's vision was still blurry and he could still hear the ringing of the explosion in his ears. In his bewildered state he came to only one coherent thought. What would have happened if he was still inside the dome he had set up? He was sure it would have probably killed him since the effects of the combination had affected the area as far as it did.

He heard thundering footsteps in his groggy state and noticed that he was surrounded. Bumblebee was charging in from the right and Barricade from the left while the latter was swinging the enormous mace. In front of him, Tenten threw a lone kunai and the two clones beside her grinned. Kakashi already knew the outcome of this. Another wall of Kunai. He turned round and saw Sasuke preparing a fire jutsu with three Naruto clones. Kakashi groaned audibly.

He decided it was best if he dove underground to get a temporary break only to suddenly lose consciousness. Unknown to him, Frenzy had been underneath him the whole time and was only invisible due to Sakura's meddling. When Kakashi had prepared to dive underground the small robot had leapt up and delivered an uppercut that connected solidly with the underneath of Kakashi's chin. Despite its small size, Frenzy did carry a large force behind its arms and Kakashi had just learnt that firsthand.

All the Naruto clones, including the three transformers, dispelled as the original got down on his knees and panted. "Yatta! We did it 'ttebayo!" Naruto cheered weakly.

Sasuke collapsed beside him also panting hard. "Yeah, we knocked out a Jonin level ninja." He agreed.

Sakura laughed. "You guys couldn't have done that without me. Admit that much, I was useful."

Tenten put her hands on her hips and glared at Sakura. "Hey! I helped too!"

Naruto snickered. "Yeah Sakura, Panda-chan did help a lot." He grinned as he lay down on the grass. "But she needed me to be useful." Naruto gulped when a kunai cut off a few strands of his hair as it thudded down next to him.

Before Tenten could explode, Sasuke whistled appreciatively. "We did a number on this training field didn't we?"

Tenten grinned. "Yes, we did. Training fields usually get a little roughed up. But the excessive damage was done by Naruto."

Behind his orange mask Naruto sighed. "I did what was necessary anyway. We wouldn't have managed to knock him out if I didn't."

"Fine guys we ALL had a part to play in this. It's called teamwork remember?" Sakura chided. "But even if we did knock him out, Kakashi-sensei did say one of us would fail. What do we do now?" The pink haired girl asked nervously.

Naruto took of his mask and gave a mischievous grin while giving her a thumbs up. "Leave that to me."

Sasuke took of his own mask and smirked. "When my brother gets a look like that, somebody's really going to get it."

The four genin laughed.

* * *

(Council room- Same time)

All the members of the council were silent as they stared in shock. In the middle of the room there was a massive projection from the crystal ball in which they had all watched team seven's genin test from beginning to end. They had seen every technique and plan done by the newly graduated team and were beyond impressed. Even Hiashi had his mouth open.

At the head of the table, Hiruzen's victorious smile was threatening to split his face. "Do you now see what this team is capable of?" The Hokage started with a rhetorical question. "Taking the Naruto off this team would destroy this teamwork and I doubt that anyone we replace the boy with will work this well with ANY of the members of team seven. The new addition would just hinder them. Jonin Kakashi Hatake may not have been going all out in terms of lethal Jutsu, but the fact still remains that he was knocked out. If this is what they can do now then what will they be capable of in the future? Denying this team what they need to grow will be the same as denying Konoha's potential for powerful future protectors and this can be labeled as treason. If anyone of you has anything left to say then I suggest you shut your mouths. What you have just witnessed is undeniable and even an academy student will know that resistance is futile. Any questions?" The Sandaime glared at everyone, daring them to rebel.

He gave a satisfied grunt when no one did and sat back down in his chair. After lighting his pipe he gave the council a confused look. "What are you still doing here? Get lost." He made a shooing gesture with his free hand. "Danzo, Homura, Koharu. You three stay, we have matters to discuss."

The council knew a dismissal when they saw one and they all got up to leave. Only Mikoto and Hiashi were requested to stay behind. Hiruzen reactivated the crystal ball for them and told them to watch and call him in case anything happened. In the corner of the room there were three other jonin sensei of teams eight, nine and ten and they each came forward to watch as well. Having completed their own genin tests earlier on in the day they had been free to watch the spectacle that was Kakashi's spar against his team.

"Wow…" Kurenai breathed out, her crimson eyes still disbelieving of the event.

Gai's boisterous laughter echoed throughout the room. "What a most unyouthful way for my youthful rival to fall. I believe I can shamelessly point out that my own team has not knocked me out. This shows that my flames of youth burn brighter than his!" A thoughtful look then came onto his face. "Although Akane and Lee are very dangerous. Even more so than Neji. The civilian girl is scary though, Anko…" Gai shivered unconsciously.

Asuma lit his own pipe as he scowled. "Speak for yourself Gai. I was tricked by my team." The bearded man spoke in a bad mood. "I knew putting Shikamaru and Kaede as strategists on my team would be a good idea, but they treated me like a kid!" He angrily sucked in more smoke.

Kurenai smiled at the reports. "I'd say I got the easiest team then. They are generally very good at tracking and found me easily every time. However their fighting skills were average, not enough to take me down. Their cutting edge at least is Arashi. He is powerful, if only I can remove that idiotism thing from him then he would be very valuable. He is very easy to trick with genjutsu and loses his anger easily. I have to work on that."

The three were then interrupted by a slight cough from Mikoto.

"It seems Kakashi is finally returning to us." Hiashi said with a small smile.

Hiruzen and his three elders ceased their secretive talks to temporarily watch the next scene unfold.

* * *

(Back with Team Seven)

Kakashi slowly opened his eyes and felt his head swimming. There was also a throbbing pain underneath his chin. The last thing her remembered was… he snapped to attention. That fight with his team! What happened? He remembered being surrounded then just blacking out.

He noticed them casually talking in front of him and frowned. Not because they had defeated them, but because they were upside down, and he couldn't move. He wasn't even able to form chakra. After struggling for a few moments he gave up and grunted heavily.

"Sleepy head's awake!" Tenten announced teasingly as the other team members turned and looked at Kakashi with wide grins.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked. It was all he could do at the moment really.

"Huh? We knocked you out. I thought that bit was obvious." Naruto joked behind the orange mask and hood that the boy was wearing. A glare from the upside down jonin told him it wasn't funny while his teammates laugh.

"I think he means how we knocked him out whisker-kun." Tenten suggested.

The blonde jinchuriki crossed his arms. "Oh that. Sakura covered one of my robots with genjutsu and it managed to land a hit on you before you went underground. Pretty awesome right?"

Kakashi could have sworn there was a blinding grin underneath that mask. "Robot? But two of them were on either side of me." Kakashi said in a confused manner.

This time it was Sasuke who laughed. "Who said my brother only has two?"

Kakashi's lone eye widened.

"Deception is a Ninja's greatest weapon Kakashi-sensei." Naruto scolded. "And I have recently seen that older and more experienced ninja tend to have a 'superiority complex' and underestimate their opponent until it is too late. We are ninja, no one is to be underestimated."

Kakashi eye smiled. "I see Itachi has taught you well. But have you decided which one of your team will be returning to the academy?" Kakashi asked innocently. Here was the moment of truth. Sure, they worked like a team and cared for each other to an extent, but here he was going to see just how much they cared for each other. This was usually the moment a team would crumble.

He was definitely surprised when all of them shared and innocent look and smiled before shrugging. Sakura even went as far to throw all three bells back at the masked jonin.

"I don't think we want anyone here to fail Kakashi-sensei. If one goes back then it's better if we all go back." Naruto stated calmly.

"And who knows." Sasuke grinned. "Maybe next year we will be on the same team again and get a jonin sensei that wants us. That way we'll get to be together as a team next year as well."

Kakashi's eye widened. This was it. This was the one quality he wanted in them. They didn't need to be strong or smart, just care about each other.

"By the way, I found a loophole in this test Kakashi sensei." Sakura added cheekily. "You just said that we had to each get a bell, Naruto wanted to go and buy some for all of us since we still have over one and a half hours left before the deadline. Sadly you woke up before he could go."

"So you guys are all willing to go back to the academy?" Kakashi asked. He smiled underneath his mask when they nodded.

"But we have a way to make you pass us no matter what." Naruto said boldly.

Kakashi had been just about to pass them right then and there but that last statement made him curious. What could they possibly do to him? "What are you going to do?" He asked.

An evil glint seemed to shine off of every member on the team. "You're going to torture me, aren't you?" Kakashi asked a little nervously. He was sure he could withstand whatever they had in store for him and that they would kill or seriously hurt him. But there was the little fact that he was helpless right now, in what appeared to be chakra sealing wire wrapped completely around his body.

He received nods in response. "In a way, we are." Naruto said coldly.

Kakashi had to give it to the two boys. Those new uniforms were really suited to the two of them. "What could you possibly do to me?" Kakashi taunted. He knew this was a bad idea but they could be bluffing. Right? He sure hoped so. Getting tortured by genin was not on his 'to do' list. He also gravely feared what it would do for his reputation. "No matter what you do, you can't make me pass all four of you here. Do you really think you can torture a Jonin? I can withstand more physical pain than you can imagine." He stated confidently.

"Who said it was going to be physical pain sensei?" Sasuke chided, standing in a similar fashion to Naruto.

Kakashi's blood froze. No. They couldn't know about Rin, Sensei, and Obito! Could they?! Despite his inner turmoil he gave them an eye smile. "We'll see." He then noticed the two girls arranging wood in a small circle. _'What could they be doing?'_ he thought to himself.

 **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire) Sasuke called forth a small stream of fire that ignited the wood making a small campfire but with the middle of the campfire safe from the flames.

Then Naruto unsealed a book from his pouch that made Kakashi's lone eye widen. "You seem to be attached to this book Kakashi-sensei." Naruto commented as he flipped through the pages.

"Let's see," the blonde boy continued. "This appears to be the latest edition released two days ago by the little mark here I would say you haven't gotten very far into the story yet have you?" Naruto asked as he snapped the book shut.

Kakashi winced at the sound, already sweating. Instead of saying something stupid he decided that it may be for the best if he kept his mouth shut. A sudden chill gripped his body when Naruto dropped the book into the centre of the flaming ring.

"Now listen carefully Kakashi-sensei. Either you pass all four of us in the next thirty seconds or this book is history." Naruto threatened.

If Kakashi was sweating before now he was sweating bullets. It was going to be a heavy blow to his pride if he submitted to the boy's terms. But could he really do that to the book? He doubted if Naruto knew it was a special, pre-ordered edition with special content at the end. The fact that he could see nothing of the boy's face didn't ease his tension as he couldn't be sure whether or not the boy could go through with it.

"Ten seconds left." Sasuke's cold voice warned.

By now Kakashi's lone eye was flitting rapidly between the blonde boy, to the book and finally to the flames that were already licking its edges.

"Five."

Naruto began to slowly go through the hand seals for a Gale Palm that would finish the book once and for all. Kakashi cursed. With his sharingan eye covered he couldn't tell whether or not Naruto was faking it. He struggled against all his bonds harder to no avail. He watched helplessly as Naruto completed the hand seal sequence.

"Time is up." Sasuke declared.

Naruto pulled his hand back. **"Fuuton: Reppu-"**

"STOP!" Kakashi's desperate voice finally rang out and all his students turned to him. "You pass alright! You pass! No need to harm my precious!"

Sasuke, Sakura and Tenten stared at their sensei. They couldn't believe it. Naruto's plan had worked. And now they also had physical evidence of the pledge as Naruto had managed to record it.

Naruto burst out laughing as he saved the book before freeing Kakashi. Once the mask jonin was able he snatched the book away from Naruto and glared at the blonde boy for all he was worth as he hugged the book tight.

* * *

(Council Room)

Everyone in the room burst out into some form of laughter. Kakashi had just succumbed to the wishes of his Genin squad, and all for the sake of the book. Asuma's pipe had dropped out long ago as the bearded man fell on the floor laughing hysterically.

Kurenai was clutching her aching sides and hung onto Mikoto as the Uchiha clan head giggled at the sight.

Hiashi had dropped onto his chair doing his best to keep up his stoic façade while laughing which ended up in a funny expression. Gai was roaring with laughter and Hiruzen was chuckling heartily at the end of the room.

Even the three advisors were amused with Danzo hinting at a smile.

"Attention!" Hiruzen called out before chuckling again. "We can wait for them in my office now, then we can… congratulate jonin Kakashi for his successful spar."

The jonin in the room erupted into renewed laughter as they headed out the door. Six people now had dirt on the famous Copy Ninja.

* * *

(Team Seven)

After the laughter had died down and Kakashi had managed to regain a little bit of his dignity did things start going back to normal.

"Team Seven." Kakashi called out with authority.

The team stood to attention and stood in a horizontal line in front of Kakashi. "I congratulate you with what you have achieved today. This exercise was not a test of whether or not you could get the bells. Which you did, unfortunately. But a test to the care you show your comrades. You have shown magnificent teamwork today and were prepared to leave no one behind for personal gains. Here is a saying a great man once told me: those who don't follow orders are trash, but those who do not care about their comrades are even worse than trash and are scum of the worst kind. My sensei before me and his sensei before him both devised this bell test for this very purpose. A test of the team. You have all surpassed my expectations and I am already proud to call you my team." Kakashi said proudly as his students beamed at him.

"As for your personal skills, I have managed to observe you each somewhat in our spar and I have a basic idea of what you can and cannot do. Sakura." Kakashi started.

"Yes sensei." The pink haired girl stepped forward.

"You have great chakra control but small reserves. Your genjutsu is advanced for your age but you still lack diversity and creativity although I will admit, you know when and how to use the ones you do know effectively. I will train you in this as well as Taijutsu and Ninjutsu since you seem to be lacking in these areas and you need to know how to properly defend yourself just in case your team is unprepared to come to your aid. I would also suggest that you start studying medical Ninjutsu as well since your good chakra control will make it easier for you to learn and we do not have a medic yet in this team." Kakashi stated his opinion to the pink haired girl.

"Tenten. You have shown great talent in your weapons and I assume you are familiar with close range weapons as well. Your support role on this team is vital but can improve. We will work on giving you supplementary Ninjutsu to use along with your weapons since your Taijutsu is up to par and you are not talented in genjutsu." The bun haired girl nodded.

"Sasuke. You work well with Naruto and both your Ninjutsu and Taijutsu are above average for your age but we can still improve. Genjutsu will be simpler for you to learn but I will focus on giving you a range of Ninjutsu to work collaboratively with Naruto." Kakashi continued.

"Naruto. You are the main power behind this team as you can readily support each of their attacks simultaneously just as they can assist you. Your diversity in attacks is commendable and well thought out if not a little destructive. We will be working on expanding your Ninjutsu arsenal. I have to ask a question however, when did you learn those earth jutsus? Your last report stated that you were only proficient in wind." Kakashi inquired curiously.

The blonde haired boy nodded. "I did. Until I had that fight with Osamu. It turns out I can actually copy jutsu as well sensei and after training in my mindscape at night and using shadow clones during the day, it's easy to get new jutsus down." He explained.

The masked man showed his surprise. "So you can copy jutsu too? Were you copying the ones I just used in the spar?"

Naruto nodded. "Every single one."

Kakashi gave him an eye smile. "Perfect, that just makes it easier. What about you Sasuke, didn't you try to copy those earth jutsu as well?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I did, but I don't think I have an affinity for earth. It takes up too much chakra."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "Which brings me to my next point." The jonin said as he distributed chakra paper in between all of them. "This is chakra paper, just run your chakra through it and the paper will react. It will split if wind, crumple if lightning, turn to dust if earth, become damp if water, and catch fire if fire."

Sakura ran her chakra through the paper and smiled. "Earth."

Tenten answered next. "Fire"

They all looked to Sasuke who had a weird result. The fire was burning crumpled paper.

"It looks like you have two strong affinities Sasuke." Kakashi explained as Sasuke beamed at him.

The next anomaly however was Naruto's paper. It split into two before one side was consumed by water and the other by fire. Then both pieces of paper crumbled into dust. Naruto frowned. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked innocently.

Kakashi was gaping at him. "Naruto, Wind is your primary affinity but water and fire are both equally powerful after wind and you seem to also have earth as a tertiary affinity."

By now the others were all also gaping at the blond haired boy. 'Um Optimus? Kurama? Explanation please. With the way they're looking at me I feel like what just happened, shouldn't have happened.' Naruto thought desperately.

"Wind and water are your natural primary and secondary nature affinities Naruto. My chakra has granted and affinity for fire, while the cube has granted you an affinity for earth." Kurama reasoned from within the boy's mind.

"Let's just say that two of these elements are a gift from my… tenants." Naruto explained as realization dawned in Kakashi's and Sasuke's eyes. The look he gave the two girls also made it clear to them that they did not want to find out what he meant.

"This will be very, very easy then. Aside from each of your individual training I will also introduce you into teamwork exercises often as well as exercises to build up both your physical strength, chakra reserves and chakra control. Be here by six tomorrow morning. Believe me when I say that there will no longer be any tardiness and I do not expect any from you. I say this on my honour as a jonin shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. You may now rest. Dismissed." Kakashi said finally as the four genin leapt away.

He smiled to himself contentedly until he remembered that his friends and colleagues had been invited to the hokage tower to watch his performance. He sighed heavily. He would probably never live this down. With a heavy heart, he shunshined his way into the hokage office only to be clapped on the back as the members in the room all burst out laughing.

* * *

(Unknown location)

Kabuto Yakushi was not scared of many things. But the sight before him led him to hunker down into the shadows. In front of Orochimaru stood four of the Snake Sannin's most powerful warriors, and they were mad. Scratch that. Furious. They were simply furious.

"Where is our brother Orochimaru? Where have you sent him and why has he not come back?" Honou snarled, flames burning in his hand.

"If anything has happened to him, you will pay." Lightning coursed entirely through Moeru's body as he made the threat.

"Tell us everything NOW! Orochimaru." Dekishi warned as water started leaking from his body

"Last chance Orochimaru." Kyoufuu sneered, violent winds filling the enclosed room.

Despite all this Orochimaru sat down calmly in his chair. He was slightly put off by the willingness to attempt to kill him, they could even possibly succeed. But he had to tell them the truth. If they found out any other way about Osamu's fate it would do him no good. "Your brother Osamu was sent to Konoha to retrieve a forbidden scroll from Mizuki and obtain the Kyubi jinchuriki as well. It turns out the jinchuriki was more powerful than anticipated and managed to defeat your brother in combat. He is now locked within Konoha." The Sannin froze when the killing intent in the room spiked.

"You sent our brother, against a jinchuriki!" Moeru yelled and Orochimaru was forced to dodge as a lightning bolt struck the seat he had been in a second before. The stone throne shattered as the lightning connected, a testament to the power wielded by the ones in front of him.

Honou grabbed his brother's hand and forced him down. "Let him finish Moeru. If we are not satisfied then we will kill him."

Reluctantly the lightning guardian lowered his hand but never averted his glare on Orochimaru.

"Kabuto here will free Osamu later tonight. There is no need for you to worry." Orochimaru reassured them.

"You would be wise to follow your words, snake." A deep voice bellowed from the door way.

The four elemental titans froze and immediately bowed to the new presence. "I am sorry father, we did not see you there." Kyoufuu apologized sincerely, fear evident in his voice as he spoke for his siblings.

"Kyojin…" Orochimaru whispered.

"I want my youngest son back by tomorrow Orochimaru." The deep voice ordered before it left the room, taking its ominous presence along with it.

The four siblings sighed in relief. "You heard him Orochimaru."

The pale man nodded. "Kabuto, arrange for a meeting with the Akatsuki. I have information to share with them. After that head to Konoha and get Osamu the hell out of there." Orochimaru ordered.

The spectacle wearing boy hastily made his way out, not at all comfortable in a room with these giants.

"Dekishi." Orochimaru called. "Let our three guests in now."

Dekishi bowed and moved to the end of the room to allow three figures in.

"Kukukuku, look what we have here. Three of the seven swordsmen of the mist. Zabuza Mamochi, Kushimaru Kuriarare, Jinpachi Munashi. What can I do for the three of you?"

"We accept your offer Orochimaru." Zabuza stated simply.

Orochimaru's evil laugh echoed throughout the underground cavern. "Well then what are we waiting for?"

* * *

 **And done! Hope you all enjoyed this one! I know we did!**

 **Despite what you may have just seen, no. We are not overpowering Naruto or any member of team seven. Yes, they have better abilities (Naruto especially) but most of their best moves were well executed combination attacks. Naruto will still get stronger as the story runs its course but the villains will also become much stronger. For example since Itachi is no longer going to be in the Akatsuki, what powerful warrior will be sent after Naruto?**

 **As requested here is an original Jutsu List:**

 **Chakura Parusu (Chakra Pulse) -Original technique created by Naruto that uses the same concept as echolocation. It can dispel most genjutsu it comes into contact with and with it he can easily sense movement and chakra once the wave passes over the target. B-rank supplementary. (due to large amount of chakra required)**

 **Doton: Hosuku sa Reta Yoroi (Earth Release: Entrapped armour) -This technique makes dense armour out of heavily compressed earth and minerals. B-rank defensive.**

 **Doton: Muchiuchi (Earth Release: Whiplash) This converts the arm into a giant, chakra controlled whip that lashes out violently and is made from the same material as the Entrapped armour and range varies on users choice. B-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Hikou Yari (Earth Release: Flying Spear) –Large javelin that shoots out of the earth towards target. C-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Oukina Shougeki (Earth Release: Great Impact) –A massive boulder will appear and shoot towards the opponent with size varying with amount of chakra put into it. B-Rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Asshuku Sa Reta (Earth Release: Compressed Earth) –Using the same substance as the armour this technique is used to form a weapon of the user's choice and relies on creativity. C-Rank supplementary.**

 **Doton: Zen'nou Suramu (Earth Release: Almighty Slam) –Forms a massive rock high up in the air which falls on command of the user. Size varies with amount of chakra placed into it. A-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Hogo Doumo (Earth Release: Protective Dome) –This forms a very hard dome around the user to protect it from outside attacks. B-rank defensive.**

 **Doton: San-Sou Hogo Doumo (Earth Release: Three Layered Protective Dome) –Much more powerful version of the protective dome and is much more durable with high resistance to most techniques. A-rank defensive.**

 **Doton: Iwa no Ame (Earth Release: Rock Rain) –This produces a large amount of rocks that vary in size to constantly appear in the sky to bombard the target. B-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Jishin Hakushu (Earth Release: Seismic Clap) –A large shockwave is produced that creates shockwaves to be released from the user's clap. Depending on chakra amount use, the power of the clap can increase or decrease its destruction. Two or more of these attacks can complement each other and lead it to grow in size. A-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Asu Supaiku (Earth Release: Earth Spike) –A spike of sharpened earth erupts from the ground to impale a target. C-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Asu Supaiku Meiro (Earth Release: Earth Spike Maze) –Numerous earth spikes of varying sizes erupt around the target at different angles and if the target is not impaled then the target will have difficulty escaping. A-Rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Tsuin Kabe Sukasshu (Earth Release: Twin Wall Squash) –Two gigantic walls appear parallel to each other and move to crush anything in between them. B-rank offensive.**

 **Doton: Kuufuku Tochi (Earth Release: Hungry Earth) –This leads to anything within the designated area sinking into the solid ground, trapping them. B-rank supplementary.**

 **Doton: Tamaishi Kage Bunshin (Earth Release: Boulder Shadow Clone) –Splits up large boulders already present. B-rank supplementary.**

 **Doton: Youshanai Kabe Boukou (Earth Release: Unrelenting Wall Assault) –After a mud wall is formed the user is protected from an attack but blinded. A way around this is to make the wall fire rocks of varying sizes out the other side to bombard whoever was attacking the user. A-rank offensive.**

 **Fuuton: Fujin no Iki (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath) –A gust of wind is emitted from the user's mouth. Not strong enough to hurt a person severely if it connects as it will only blow them away. Mostly used to propel large objects or a large mass of kunai or to add strength to a fire jutsu. C-rank supplementary.**

 **Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath) –Much stronger and widespread version of the Fujin no Iki and can harm a person standing in its way. B-rank offensive/supplementary.**

 **Fuuton: Kaze no Hogo (Wind Release: Protection of the Breeze) –Coats an object of the user's choice in winds. Depending on the amount of chakra it can either form armour or can simply be present to help make an object catch fire. B-rank defensive/supplementary.**

 **Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel) –Tunnel of air that speeds towards an enemy while the sharp winds encircle it giving it the properties of a drill. B-rank offensive.**


	8. Chapter 8: A Night to Remember

Chapter 8: A Night to Remember

* * *

 **We're baaaaack! And with a brand new chapter for you all as well.**

 **By the way, if you guys want someone to blame for Zabuza...then go look at Yatsu.**

 **Yatsu: Don't throw me under the bus!**

 **Me: Alright, I'll throw you under the plane.**

 **Yatsu: That's even worse!**

 **Zabuza Mamochi's sword will be referred to as Kubikiri. Jinpachi is the swordsman with the exploding sword Shibuki and Kushimaru has the needle sword Nuibari incase you guys forgot.**

 **Yatsushiro Note: Sorry for the delay but I had exams these past two weeks and they have just finished. I've got some free time on my hands right now so the next few updates shouldn't take too long.**

 **Yeah, mine are coming up in about a month so...yeah, early warning.**

 **Now let's begin!**

* * *

(Orochimaru's Base)

"Dekishi." Orochimaru called. "Let our three guests in now."

Dekishi bowed and moved to the end of the room to allow three figures in.

"Kukukuku, look what we have here. Three of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Zabuza Mamochi, Kushimaru Kuriarare, Jinpachi Munashi. What can I do for the three of you?"

"We accept your offer Orochimaru." Zabuza stated simply.

Orochimaru's evil laugh echoed throughout the underground cavern. "Well then what are we waiting for?"

Zabuza kept a blank expression. "How can we be sure that you will stick to your end of the deal?"

Orochimaru chuckled humourlessly as he waved his hand around in the air uncaringly. "Do not worry Zabuza-kun. I have already promised aid for the rebellion forces in Kiri, just like we agreed upon."

Zabuza grit his teeth forcibly. "Not that!"

Orochimaru looked thoughtful for a moment. "Was there something else?"

Zabuza growled. "Where is Haku and what have you done with her?" the bandaged man paused when Orochimaru tilted his head questioningly to the side.

"We can start with you returning Haku to us, Orochimaru." Zabuza suggested in a menacing tone. Those present noticed the rapid temperature drop in the room as it plummeted down.

Orochimaru smirked back at the Swordsman. "Oh yes, we do have that little issue about my… bargaining chip now don't we?" He mocked as the three swordsmen bristled in anger, none more so than Zabuza however.

Zabuza, Jinpachi and Kushimaru gripped their respective sword handles as a thick mist began to fill the room. All the while the three swordsmen were glaring at the Snake Sannin, piling on the massive killing intent. "If you have done anything to her…" Jinpachi started, his Shibuki slowly filling with explosive notes.

"Anything at all…" Kushimaru continued as he twirled Nuibari.

Zabuza looked up with eyes that were blazing with fury. "Then you will pay!" He snarled just as he disappeared from sight, his voice echoing from all around the large room.

* * *

(Flashback Seven Years Ago)

Zabuza growled through his bandages as he viciously cleaved a man in two with the Kubikiri before spinning around and delivering a powerful kick that shattered his would be attacker's chest, sending him flying. The Kubikiri was then swung around in a large arc, ending another three unfortunate lives.

He turned towards the sound of explosions and saw Jinpachi mercilessly ripping through the enemy ranks. The bearded swordsman wasn't bothering for grace and simply swung the massive exploding sword that blasted anything in its path.

On the other side of the clearing, the enemies were being sewn together, literally. Among the three swordsmen, Kushimaru's victims screamed the most as Nuibari pierced them, the wire attaching them to the needle sword's next victim. Zabuza's kills were quick because of the powerful slashes he was capable of inflicting. Jinpachi's kills were always immediately engulfed in the massive explosions. But Kushimaru preferred piercing them in the most painful areas while being careful not to kill them. If that wasn't enough, the swordsman showed his dexterity by tying all the pierced men together to suffer a painful death.

The needle swordsman wasn't proud of what he was doing, but he would say these men deserved it. Who would send a force of over five hundred ninja to destroy an innocent, civilian village? Oh, of course, Yagura the current Mizukage. The 'Inhuman', as they had dubbed him, was apparently fearful of those with bloodline limits and had ordered a mass cleansing of them from 'his' country.

This had caused the bloody civil war, which was now in motion, to occur with Yagura's forces on one side and the bloodline user's on the other. The harsh fact was, Yagura did not discriminate between man and woman, or adult or child, or even whether they were civilian. If you had a bloodline user in your village you were considered impure and massacred.

And that was exactly what was happening here. Zabuza, Jinpachi and Kushimaru had been ordered by the resistance leader to aid the village as they had gotten Intel that it would be under attack. Mei Terumi had sent them along with fifteen other powerful warriors, all of which were now dead.

The three swordsmen stood side by side as they gazed at the fires that ravaged the small village. "This is unbelievable…" Kushimaru snarled.

"And we are the 'monsters' here, aren't we Zabuza?" Jinpachi remarked sarcastically while swinging Shibuki over his shoulder like a baseball bat.

"We must hurry." Zabuza stated, his voice devoid of any emotion. "There might still be some that we can save in there. And I hear Yagura sent the other three here once he heard of us."

Jinpachi and Kushimaru grimaced. The other three were the remaining swordsmen of the mist that had remained loyal to Yagura, they were the second most powerful card of the deadly Mizukage. The trump card being himself, considering that he was the Sanbi jinchuriki.

Despite their power, the three knew a match against their four comrades was not going to end well for them. Raiga Kurosuki, Mangetsu Hozuki and Jinin Akebino together with their respective swords consisting of the Kiba, Hiramekarei and Kabutowari were truly a powerful force to behold. Once, long ago, all seven of them had been working together against the armies that dared march against Kiri and were feared as the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, but now they were split in half. Zabuza, Jinpachi and Kushimaru could not accept what their Mizukage was doing, it destroyed their beliefs. Unfortunately the other three did not see it the same way and branded them as traitors.

Kisame Hoshigaki was unknown, it was rumored that he had killed his entire squad on a delivery mission before becoming a missing nin. It was too bad, Zabuza was sure that Kisame would have joined them being he was one of the more honorable swordsmen in the group.

They were still unsure which half was stronger, but they were not willing to find out. With the urgency settled, the three rebellious swordsmen leapt towards the village, killing any ninja in their path. There was no worry about killing innocent ninja as this had been purely a civilian village.

Their feet crunched against the cold snow as they glanced at all the fires around them, their faces set in a grim line. This was only one of hundreds of villages that Yagura had mercilessly destroyed. They were brought out of their musing when they heard a scream on the other end of the village.

They rushed towards the house where the sound came from only to see a horde of men burst in through the door chanting. "Kill the Ice users!" The swordsmen froze. They each only knew of only one ice user in this region and she had been her good friend of theirs.

They arrived just in time to see horde impale a man that had been apparently guarding the door. They vaguely recognized him as the husband of their childhood friend before they started slaughtering the men outside the house. Zabuza viciously plowed through them, desperate to reach the inside of the house. At least ten men had already entered. The Demon of the Mist charged through the enemy, relying on his two comrades to cover him. They would understand.

He burst in through the door ready to kill, but what Zabuza saw made his heart run cold. He had arrived only to see two men ram their swords into his friend's chest. An unspeakable rage built up inside him. He was going to make them pay in the worst way possible!

But there was someone who was apparently more affected by her death than he was. He heard a shilling scream as spikes made of pure ice ended the lives of the remaining men in the room. Zabuza blinked for a moment before he saw the little girl that was clutching her mother's dying form.

Zabuza rushed over to his long time friend and kneeled down next to her. "Kotomi! Kotomi can you hear me!?" Zabuza cried out as he cradled her head in his arms.

Kotomi coughed up a little blood before smiling at the swordsman. "Hello Zabu-chan, it's nice to see you again." She said weakly.

Normally Zabuza would have retaliated for being called that name again, but right now he could feel tears coming to his eyes.

Kotomi turned a little to her side. "Do you see her?" she asked as she stroked the little girl that was clinging to her as if she was a lifeline.

Zabuza noted the little girl that had just used the ice attacks and nodded.

Kotomi smiled again as she stroked the child's hair. "This is my daughter Zabu-chan, her name is Haku. Can I ask you to keep her safe for me?"

Zabuza felt eyes widen in shock as he stiffened.

Noticing his turmoil, the dying woman looked up at him. "Please Zabuza. Give her a life which my husband and I can longer give. You are the only one I can trust with this."

Just as she said that, Kushimaru and Jinpachi entered the room. Just like Zabuza they froze at the sight in horror.

Kotomi coughed up a little more blood before smiling again. "Ah yes, I can trust them as well."

Jinpachi and Kushimaru crouched down sadly next to Zabuza and they immediately agreed to whatever Kotomi had just requested, seeing that Zabuza was also nodding.

"Do not Worry Kotomi, we swear it on our lives and honour as swordsmen that we will protect and raise your daughter as you would have." Zabuza promised, cutting his palm and letting the blood drop onto the ground. Next to him, the other two repeated the process one by one.

Kotomi gave them a grateful nod before turning to her daughter. "Haku?"

The little girl just gripped her mother tighter. "Mom, don't go!" She sobbed. "Don't leave!"

All four adult hearts melted at the sight of such an innocent child. Kotomi started crying as her heart clenched. "I'm sorry my little angel, but mommy cannot stay with you anymore."

Haku sobbed harder. "I'm sorry mom! I'll do whatever you want! I'll be a good girl! I'll help you clean the house! I'll…"

She was silenced by a finger on her lips. Kotomi put her hand under her daughter's chin and raised it slowly to meet her eyes. "I want you to promise me, right now, that you will carry on living. Promise me that you will find a purpose in this world and live life to the fullest."

"I…"

"Please Haku, please."

"I promise mother." Haku stated confidently. If this was her mother's last wish then she would fulfill it.

"And try not to give these three a hard time while you are with them." Kotomi joked lightheartedly. She coughed again painfully before her face returned to its calm look again. With great effort she sat up and kissed Haku's forehead lovingly. "I love you… my daughter…" Kotomi said before she dropped down, lifeless.

The three swordsmen looked down at the floor beneath them in respect.

"Mom?" Haku asked tenderly. "Mom?" Haku shook her a little before realization hit her and the tears came once again. "Mom!" Haku screamed a scream filled with grief. Sadness washed over the swordsmen as they looked back at the grieving girl that was now slumped over her mother's still form.

Zabuza walked up to her just as the room they were in started burning. He put a comforting hand around her shoulder. "We need to go now, Haku. Your mother would be disappointed in all of us if you joined her so soon. Make sure her death was not in vain, because she gave her life so that you could live."

Haku sat up slowly and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yes, you are right. I can come with you now."

Zabuza nodded to the other two who nodded back before they exited the room to look for danger. Zabuza took a few steps forward before offering his hand to the small girl who took it. Together they turned back to Kotomi who looked peaceful at rest.

"I love you too, mom" Haku said before following Zabuza out of the room just as the flames overcame it.

* * *

(Flashback end)

"Kukukuku. Please do not tell me you will do something as stupid as attack me in my own base. I know for a fact that each one of you is smarter than that." Orochimaru scolded.

Zabuza's voice echoed from all around the room. "We shall see Orochimaru, we shall see."

Realizing the danger each of the four brothers activated their cursed seals to the first level.

"There are eight vital points on each of your bodies…" Zabuza continued coldly, still nowhere in sight. "The heart, the spine, the lungs, the larynx, the kidneys, the jugular vein and the collar bone. Which one would you like me to strike?"

The brothers shivered a little while Orochimaru's smirk only grew wider.

* * *

(Konoha- Hokage Office)

Kakashi was trying his absolute best not to lash out at his sniggering comrades behind. Taking a deep breath, Kakashi put on a big eye smile. "Hokage-sama, I have finished conducting my Genin Exam and they have passed with flying colours."

Asuma couldn't stop himself. "Really? How well did they do?"

Beneath the mask Kakashi scowled.

"Kakashi my most youthful rival! Your team's Flames of Youth burn brighter than mine! I will see to it that my team can also knock you out!" Gai shouted out pointing at Kakashi.

Kakashi's right eye twitched. "Hokage-sama, I have concluded that my team is not suitable for D-ranks…"

Asuma's chuckling interrupted him. "Oh really now Kakashi, I wonder why?" The bearded man asked innocently as he drew a breath from his pipe.

Kakashi's glare prevented any further remarks. "…and I hereby request that I train them for an entire month with no D-rank responsibilities. At the end of this period then I can assure that they will be ready to take on C-rank missions."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "I can see where you are coming from, but how will we test if they will be ready? They are still genin after all."

Kakashi's eye smile made Hiruzen curious. "I have a solution for that." Kakashi stated cheerily. "I suggest that Asuma and Gai form a pair to spar with my team at the end of the month. If my team cannot be taken down within one hour then they are ready. This also includes however, the fact that it may not reach an hour before Asuma and Gai are knocked out. I would also like Teams Eight, Nine and Ten watching."

Asuma's cigarette dropped to the floor unceremoniously as his mouth was gaping at Kakashi. Kurenai was unsure what to think and Hiruzen was very amused at his son's predicament.

Gai however, wasn't put off one bit about facing Kakashi's team. "Yosh! Do not worry Kakashi! I accept such a youthful challenge, for it will fan not only mine, but our entire teams' Flames of Youth!"

Kakashi turned to Gai with a very happy expression plastered on. "As you wish Gai. Oh and just so you know, Naruto has four elemental affinities and Sasuke has two. Together all five elements are present and I plan on teaching them most of the Ninjutsu I know. I don't have a thousand techniques for nothing. With Naruto's mass shadow clones I am sure that I can embed most of them into him as his chakra capacity is immense. I will just work on his chakra control. The same can be said for Sasuke. I will also start tutoring Sakura in genjutsu so that she can be more… creative and I plan on teaching Tenten about some Ninjutsu and some accompanying seals to add to her weapons. This is all but a preview anyway so I hope that you and Asuma will be prepared in a month, Gai."

Asuma stuttered a little. "W-wait. The Hokage has not approved of this yet!"

"I would really like him to. Hopefully my team seriously injures the both of you." Kakashi suggested.

"How unyouthful!" Gai exclaimed.

"But the Hokage hasn't approved yet! Don't count your eggs before they hatch!" Asuma stated confidently.

"Who said that? I approve of your method Kakashi. Carry on." Hiruzen laughed.

Asuma glared back at his father while the older Sarutobi laughed. "You just want to see a good fight don't you?" He asked sourly.

"Mou, what's wrong Asuma? Scared to lose to a couple of genin?" Kakashi teased.

Hiruzen laughed again as his son bristled. "Okay that's enough for now, I've got other things that I need to be doing." The Sandaime dismissed them.

The four nodded before disappearing in their own respective shunshin, if Gai running out the door at an insane speed counted as a shunshin.

Once the room was cleared Hiruzen turned to the other three occupants whose face were set in irritated frowns.

"We have some troubling issues here Hiruzen." Koharu scowled.

"You should carefully analyze everything you sign, this is a huge mess." Homura added gravely as he shifted through another pile of paperwork.

"My ROOT has also found troubling news." Danzo added. "There have been too many frauds recently and they have caught two or three Kumo spies in the past day alone."

Hiruzen looked at the three elders. "Then let us fix this mess. I am afraid I have gone lax these past few years." Hiruzen said grimly.

The three elders nodded in agreement; there was a lot to work on. But Hiruzen was clearly back in the picture as a power figure and that was already something to rejoice about. The only other thing they now wished for was that he would snap out of his peaceful ways and recognize the threat of the other villages getting ready for war.

* * *

(A few hours later)

After their successful genin exam the now official team seven wandered off together for lunch and had somehow ended up at Ichiraku's Ramen. After each downing a bowl, well three in Naruto's case, Sasuke turned to his blonde brother with a curious look.

Tenten and Sakura noticed this as well as Naruto had been uncharacteristically quiet after their match with Kakashi and the whiskered blonde seemed to be deep in thought.

"Oi Naruto," Sasuke called out receiving a small nod in response. "What's on your mind? Something's bothering you."

Naruto turned to Sasuke before smiling sheepishly. "Well, you see… I've got something to be doing tonight. I sort of… promised it yesterday… to someone…"

It didn't take long for Sasuke to connect the dots. By the looks on the girls' faces he was sure they figured it out as well. Sasuke's eyes widened before he started laughing out loud. "Oh yeah! You've got that date with Hinata don't you!"

Naruto's head snapped back up with a small blush. "Well, um. I wouldn't call it a… date… I just invited her to eat out with me."

Behind him Tenten giggled as she crossed her arms. "Oh come on whisker-kun, I'm not sure about you but that sounds like a date to me."

Beside her Sakura grinned. "And if I'm right you are nervous aren't you?" she added.

Sasuke began laughing again. "Maybe it's because he doesn't know what to do!"

Naruto glared back at his black haired brother. "And you would?" He asked sarcastically.

The comment caught Sasuke off guard and the Uchiha took a little time to think. Finally he sighed, "No, I don't think I would." He admitted dejectedly.

Naruto grinned before it was replaced by a frown. "Now I don't even know what to wear or where to bring her. Actually, I don't even know what we're supposed to be doing! This is so complicated 'ttebayo!" Naruto cried out in frustration as he banged his head on the counter.

Tenten giggled again. "You'd better think of something fast whisker-kun, it's already three and you're picking her up at six remember?"

"Not helping Panda-chan." Naruto replied with his head still on the counter. Suddenly the blond boy's head shot up. "Aha! That's it!" he yelled out excitedly, giving a few people quite a scare.

"Naruto quiet down! You're scaring away the customers!" Teuchi complained mockingly from within the kitchen."

"Sorry!" Naruto called out before turning back to his friends. "I'm just going to ask our mother Sasuke. She'll know what to do! See you tomorrow guys!" Naruto shouted out before bolting out of the store towards the Uchiha district.

Sasuke smiled after his blonde brother for a minute before he realized something. "Naruto! You made me pay the bill again!" He shouted angrily after the whiskered boy. The Uchiha swore when he heard a mocking laugh in the distance.

* * *

(Hyuga Compound)

Little did they know however, that Hinata was just as clueless as Naruto in this subject. Her parents were pleased that she no longer stuttered and had very little confidence issues now. One year around the boy had really rubbed off on her.

But that didn't take away the fact that she was clueless. She barely registered that she had just been standing and simply staring at her open wardrobe for the past hour. She was brought back to attention by her mother walking in with a knowing smile on her face. "Having trouble dear?" Hitomi asked gently.

Hinata turned to her mother and reluctantly nodded. "Yes." She admitted sadly. The Hyuga girl started waving her hands around in a frustrated manner while pacing around the room. "I mean, he wasn't even being clear. Are we going out as friends to eat? Or is it a date? Where are we going? What should I dress for to be appropriate? How long will we even be out?" Hinata finally stopped her rant as she dropped down unceremoniously on the floor to stare up at the ceiling.

Hitomi merely smiled at her daughter. To tell the truth she knew EXACTLY what was going to take place. Mikoto had gotten her in to arrange the 'perfect first date' once the Uchiha clan head had found out about Naruto's proposal. But she wasn't going to tell her daughter that now was she?

"Sweetheart, why don't you try just wearing casual clothing? No weapons or anything else but the attire should be just perfect." Hitomi suggested innocently.

Hinata turned her head to face her mother while still on the floor before sighing. "Gah, Mom I don't know! I guess I'll just leave it to you."

The Hyuga heiress didn't notice her mother's devious smile. "Well, I'm sure we've got something…"

* * *

(Uchiha Compound, Three Hours Later)

"And there we go, now you are all set Naruto." Mikoto said excitedly after clapping her hands together in excitement.

Naruto eyed himself in the mirror and couldn't help but give a small grin. His mother sure knew what she was doing. His upper torso attire remained the same with the black shirt and dark orange long sleeve that came with the mask which he was now reluctant to take off. His mother however had insisted that he put on some baggy jeans that lacked weapon pouches and Mikoto had practically snarled at him when he said he wanted to carry a weapon pouch. She had then proceeded to outline every single aspect that a male must do on the first date, which took a good two and a half hour portion out of their three hour time, something which she ensured he was paying rapt attention to.

After his clothing Mikoto then decided to put a weird substance on his hair that made it glossy and appear to shine. After that he had to practice eating with the mask on while reciting everything that he had just been lectured on.

And now here he was, ready to tackle on his first date. Mikoto had already reserved a place for the two of them in one of the higher class restaurants in Konoha and she had insisted that he should not worry about price or anything similar to it. Naruto had been very hesitant before she reminded him why he was wearing the mask and why he should have no problems in giving Hinata a good time.

Naruto was still nervous of course and he still wondered if his mother's plans would really work. What he didn't know was that Mikoto and Hitomi had managed to get time together and discuss what they needed to contribute for the night, therefore they knew exactly what the young ones would be expecting of each other.

The walk to the Hyuga compound was one of the longest walks that Naruto had ever had to take. It felt like the buildup to an exciting fight with unknown variables, and at the same time it didn't. At least in a fight Naruto could rely on his instincts as well as the advice of his inner voices to think on his feet. This was different. The blonde boy knew that he was heading into uncharted waters and even if he had been briefed thoroughly, he couldn't help but wonder if he would even be able to act properly and on cue. In this situation his inner tenants were not helping either, being that the robots had no such experience either and did not fully understand it whereas Kurama laughed at him before promptly turning a blind eye to his container's predicament.

When he entered the compound he managed to settle his nerves a little and took a deep breath before knocking on Hiashi's office.

"Come in." The Hyuga clan head called out.

And just like that Naruto began sweating profusely again. His mother hadn't really told him how to deal with the father of the girl before taking her out. They were close that was for sure as Hiashi had even adopted Naruto once before, but again this was different. He was no longer talking to his father figure, rather the father figure of the girl he was taking out. And those were nowhere near each other. His father figure would have probably supported him in his decision but the father of the date would probably be opposed to the idea and would be critical in judging Naruto's intentions. In short it would be the same thing as presenting himself to a totally changed man.

And he was right. He entered the room slowly to see the Hyuga clan head sitting calmly at his desk with his back straight and hands at the sides. The normally cheerful face Naruto was used to seeing had been set into the stoic Hyuga face and it shot out waves of authority that made Naruto seem smaller than he actually was. The now cold, white eyes stared at him carefully as Naruto held his back ramrod straight with both his hands behind his back.

The blond boy had never seen this side of Hiashi before, much less been under the scrutinizing gaze of one, and he was terrified even if he didn't show it. Terrified of what exactly, he wasn't sure. But he was terrified none the less.

It seemed like an eternity before either of them made a move, and in the end it was Hiashi who decided to break the oppressing silence, only to replace it with a crushing atmosphere. "Why are you here?" He asked impassively. Other than the clan head's mouth, none of his other body parts had even moved.

Naruto almost jumped when he heard the voice and despite what he was feeling, he forced himself to swallow the tenseness and refused to stutter, even if that would have been a reasonable thing to do. "I am here to fetch your daughter for an outing which we have both agreed on Hiashi-sama. I humbly request your permission to proceed with the activity." The blond boy said with a slight bow.

Inside Hiashi was enjoying himself immensely. It wasn't everyday he got to do this with a boy that was dating his daughter and he would not waste the opportunity. "Why should I give you permission to do so? She is my eldest and I care for her very much." He continued staring unblinkingly at the masked boy and inwardly grinned, the parts of his face not covered by the mask were glistening with sweat.

Naruto gulped. "Because I believe that I can give her a good time and that we would both enjoy celebrating our recent graduation from the academy."

"May I ask, if you are celebrating then why is it only you two? Should you not be with your friends?" Hiashi honestly felt like he was interrogating the poor boy for no real reason whatsoever but he didn't care, he was having fun!.

"We were planning on making tonight special as the official celebration for our class is still two days from now." Naruto reasoned.

"I do not see the harm in waiting." Hiashi commented.

Naruto knew he was fighting a losing battle, but he would not give up.

Hiashi decided to continue. "And I would feel much safer when she is not alone with you. Despite me not doubting your abilities to protect her from others, how can I be sure that taking her out are your only intentions with my daughter."

And just like that Naruto's fear evaporated as he glared at the clan head. He was a little thick when it came to this subject, but he wasn't stupid. The double meaning was caught clear as day. "With all due respect Hiashi-sama, if those are your views of me then I will state freely that you are being unfair and are acting out of character. I will not dream of hurting Hinata-chan and I think we both know it." Naruto replied back, being brutally blunt.

Naruto was getting ready for another comeback, should the argument continue, before he was caught off guard by Hiashi breaking out into an all out laugh. The Hyuga clan head leaned back in his chair still laughing as the atmosphere in the room lifted. "S-sorry Naruto!" he wheezed out in between his laughs.

Naruto was seriously debating whether to laugh along with the man, glare at him, or plan out an elaborate prank with Frenzy.

"I could only think of now to do this and it worked perfectly!" Hiashi added gleefully, his childish persona rising out.

Naruto finally decided to glare at the Hyuga clan head which only caused Hiashi to laugh harder. "Hiashi-sama!" Naruto mock growled. The blonde boy then decided to cross his arms and pout, even if Hiashi couldn't see it. The notion however was not missed. "I'll get you back one day Hiashi-sama, I'll have the next laugh!" Naruto declared bravely.

Hiashi was just about to taunt him to try before they were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. "Hiashi, may we come in?" Hitomi asked gently from behind the door.

Hiashi, still with a slight smile, gave them permission to enter. The three girls in Hiashi's life then entered the room one by one. There was nothing different about Hanabi and Hitomi in terms of attire, but the one that caught his eye was the last one to enter.

"May I present… Nee-chan!" Hanabi giggled childishly while using her hands to emphasize her older sibling.

Naruto's eyes widened a bit when he caught sight of the slightly blushing Hinata. At least, that's what everyone could see as a visible reaction. If he hadn't been wearing the orange mask then he would have been clearly seen with his mouth hanging open. He had mostly seen Hinata wearing her brown jacket which she was almost never seen without nowadays, so this new sight was something to behold. Hinata was wearing a white, short-sleeved, frilly shirt that reached mid thigh and this was matched by tight, black leggings that just made it past her knees. There had been no need to put on any form of make up to match the outfit and due to her short hair, Hinata had no problems with styling it. He could barely smell a tint of a new perfume on her that he couldn't quite place. He wasn't complaining though. The best part of the whole outfit however was that Hinata seemed proud of what she looked like and she was standing with her back straight and her hands behind her back.

While the whiskered blonde was busy inspecting her, Hinata was doing the same. Unlike team seven, this had been her first time seeing Naruto's new attire and quite frankly, she liked it. It made him seem older and more mature than his age and also added a little bit of mysteriousness to him. Hinata only realized that he was meant to dress casually due to the jeans and lack of weapons pouches. His perfume smelt of the forest, like fresh dew early in the morning. It was strong enough for her to catch a good waft and inadvertently make her smile, much to Naruto's satisfaction.

Hitomi coughed lightly to get the pair's attention away from each other. They turned to her expectantly while she smiled at their looks, almost eager to get going. It reminded her of a time when she was their age, although she and Hiashi had it hidden more efficiently. "Before you go I believe Hiashi has something to say to the both of you."

Naruto scowled. It was even visible through the mask and Hiashi burst out laughing again. "I believe we have already had out talk Hitomi!" The Hyuga clan head chuckled. "Just bring her back before ten, you two can go now." Hiashi quickly added after another impatient scowl from the blond boy.

Naruto's mood did a sudden one eighty. "All right! See you later Hiashi-sama!" Naruto cheered lightly.

Hinata walked up to her dad and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "See you later dad." She said before walking up to Naruto who opened the door up for her.

After the door shut the two adults shared a look with a smile while Hanabi squealed in delight. "Finally! Took them long enough." She sighed exhaustedly before dropping dramatically onto the couch in her father's office.

"Hitomi, feel free to join Mikoto tonight. I'm sure you two have plans." Hiashi said knowingly.

Hitomi grinned before walking up to her husband and giving him a quick kiss. "Yes, we do. See you later dear." Hitomi waved before walking out the door as well.

Hiashi then turned to the only other person left in the room. "Hey Hanabi, want to play with daddy?"

The little girl shook her head violently before bolting out of the room.

Hiashi sighed deeply, now that he had no excuses left he had to return to his clan head duties. In other words, more paperwork. He sighed again before he picked up the pen. "If only Hiruzen had kept all of this paperwork to himself…" he mused before setting to work.

* * *

(Outside)

The street Naruto was leading them down just happened to be facing the sun just as it started to set, casting orange and red across the sky. The pair walked in comfortable silence as the great ball of fire slowly descended over the horizon. As they walked, Hinata turned to study her date. The glow of the setting sun managed to light up his masked face. Hinata took the time to admire the features that were on display, even after all those times she had seen him, every single time was just like the first.

It was upon studying him that she realized something was wrong. Something was out of place. Upon closer inspection she found it, and she did not like what she saw. Naruto was not as relaxed as he seemed. The blonde boy was tense, and Hinata managed to catch his eyes flitting around at every passerby on the street, at every shadow. It was like he was expecting something to jump out at him at any time.

Hinata knew he could sometimes be paranoid. She had walked with him enough times to catch the looks of sheer hate and malice that was sent his way by the majority of the villagers. Even with his features masked, her date didn't seem to feel safe. Taking a quick look around, Hinata quickly deduced that the villagers did not seem to recognize Naruto. But knowing the whiskered boy, he didn't trust his disguise enough.

She couldn't take it. Hinata wanted to enjoy the night, but she couldn't do so with Naruto this tense. The Hyuga heiress quickly decided to resolve the situation. She put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. A frown marred her features when he suddenly tensed before realizing who the hand belonged to.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun? Something's bothering you." Hinata spoke softly. In the back of her head she realized that she was sounding a little bit like her mother.

The whiskered boy stopped walking to look at her nervously. "Well, this is my first time doing this. I guess I'm just nervous." He replied a little shakily as he gave a half hearted excuse.

Hinata also stopped to look him in the eye. "Naruto-kun, this is my first time on a date as well. And you don't see me acting like you are. Something's wrong and it would really be nice if you could tell me. I want you to enjoy tonight as well. If you can't do it for yourself then can you at least do it for me?"

Naruto sighed deeply as he looked down. "To be honest Hinata-chan, it's not that I am nervous about the date itself. You know how the villagers are to me and I'm just scared they may ruin it for you. Even if mother reassured me about today, I don't feel like everything is going to go just fine." He admitted grudgingly.

Hinata looked at him for a minute. "It can't be that bad Naruto-kun. And nothing can really stop us from having fun."

"But things have never gone okay for me when I'm doing anything here in this village on my own. The only time I'm treated fairly is when mother, Hitomi-sama or aunty Yugiri are with me. Or some of my friends. Other than that, everyone just seems to have it in for me." Naruto looked down.

Hinata sighed before taking Naruto's hand in hers. She met his gaze when he looked up at her. "Then I guess it's my job to make sure you don't do anything in this village alone then, isn't it." She asked reassuringly.

The Hyuga heiress smiled when she saw the masked boy's blue eyes light up at her words. "And don't worry, I don't think anyone will recognize you with that cool mask anyway. Where did you get it?"

And just like that, the conversation turned back to normal grounds as the pair resumed their walk to wherever Naruto had in mind. Or in this case, whatever Mikoto had already planned out for him and had instructed him to follow.

Unknown to the pair however, they were being followed by a group, a group that was hidden cleverly by a slightly effective genjutsu that they relied on to conceal themselves. Slowly but surely they made sure to follow the pair silently.

By the time Hinata and Naruto reached the restaurant, the sub had long since set and the streets were starting to get busier as people prepared themselves for a night out. Hinata took one look at the massive and stylish restaurant before raising a hand to cover her gasp. "Naruto-kun, is that…"

She felt like Naruto was grinning under the mask. "Yes, it is one of the more high class restaurants in Konoha. It's where tourists tend to go to as well."

Hinata was still in awe of the place and the fact that Naruto had brought her to such a place. "But isn't it a little expensive?" She protested weakly.

Naruto chuckled. "Don't worry about it, I've got it covered. And like I said earlier, let's just enjoy the night. Apparently the guard doesn't recognize me so that's a plus."

Hinata giggled. "Well how can you tell he can't recognize you?" She asked curiously.

Naruto pointed at the guard's face. "I think the fact that he is smiling at me is a dead giveaway Hinata-chan."

The Hyuga heiress laughed. Her date was back to his usual cheeky self. Before she realized it, they were in front of the guard that they had been pointing out earlier and he was still grinning warmly.

"Welcome to the Flaming Leaf Sir, Madam." He greeted lavishly as he opened the door for them.

Hinata could tell Naruto was seriously debating whether to burst out laughing or take off his mask just to see the guard's reaction. Before he could do anything stupid the white eyed girl latched onto his arm to lead him away from trouble.

"Hinata-chaaan," He whined. "I wasn't going to do anything!"

Hinata turned to look at him as if he was a four year old child. "Yeah, I can see that."

Naruto's grumbling was stopped when they came into contact with the man that dealt out the reservations. "Sir, Madam, good evening to you both." He greeted warmly. "May I ask what your reservation is?"

"Reservation for Arata Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga." Naruto spoke calmly.

The man scrolled down the massive book for a while before nodding. "Yes sir, you will be taken to your table by Himeki over here."

A small girl suddenly popped out of the nearby door with an amused grin on her face. "Right this way sir!" she exclaimed as she whirled round to head inside the massive restaurant.

As they followed her through the enormous dining room, Hinata turned to Naruto once again. "Arata Uchiha?"

Naruto turned to her as well. "What's the point of me masking myself if everyone here is just going to know my real name?"

Hinata laughed. "Well Arata-kun, I guess I just have to get used to this name for every date we have in future."

Naruto gulped as his mind quickly processed what she said. Inside his mindscape he heard Frenzy whistle before hearing Barricade join in. "She wants some more!" The Decepticon called out. The masked boy cut the mental link before it could get out of hand. There was also a strange feeling he had that Bumblebee was dancing to something in his head but he shook it off.

"Y-yeah, you probably should." Naruto replied.

Hinata's ears perked up at the stutter. "Arata-kun, are you nervous?" She asked teasingly.

"Huh? What? No!" Naruto inwardly groaned. This was not going according to plan. "How can I be nervous? It's only the first date so that means I can't be nervous. If I'm nervous then something bad is bound to happen and then I could screw up and then…" Halfway through the speech Naruto lost his confidence which was quickly replaced by a little of his inner thoughts.

He was silenced by a small finger put to his lips. "What are you rambling about if you aren't nervous?" Hinata asked gently with a knowing smile.

Now Naruto wanted to skewer himself and decided just to stop talking for a while. It was probably for the best.

Only then did they decide to take in their surroundings. There was a large and noisy hall that was lit by humongous chandeliers on the ceiling and the crowded place had waiters scuttling about quickly back and forth between the clothed tables. They wondered where they were heading if it wasn't this place they were going to be dining in and their curiosity peaked when they started heading up a flight of majestic steps.

"Here we are!" Himeki suddenly announced as she jumped excitedly in front of the pair. Both teenagers jumped suddenly at the suddenness of the over excited girl. "Sorry!" she suddenly exclaimed before whirling around to run off. "I'll get your menu! And your table is outside over there!"

Naruto started laughing when the waiter almost crashed into at least three tables and another waiter that was carrying a soup tray. Said waiter barely had time to raise the tray above the rushing girl's head before she dashed right next to him. "Himeki!" He roared angrily.

"Sorry!" the girl shot back before disappearing into the kitchen. The waiter shook his head tiredly.

Hinata and Naruto headed towards where they were instructed and opened a set of glass doors onto the balcony. When the door shut, the constant chatter from behind them was quickly shut off and a comforting silence settled over them.

The pair looked towards their table and both of them were put into a slight trance by the lovely placement of their reserved table. It was on a balcony on the third and uppermost floor of the restaurant and was devoid of noise from the street below. Whereas the street below was lit by yellow lights, the full moon bathed the balcony in a beautiful white glow which was only further enhanced by the pure, black mosaic tiles that reflected the moonlight onto the glass tables that had flowers neatly arranged at the centre.

The metal railings were adorned with other flowers of various colours and also stopped their view of the street below, making the balcony seem like it was in a completely detached world. The view of the stars that littered the night sky was something remarkable as both teens gazed up. A slight breeze blew past the pair and slowly ruffled their hair. It was a cool sensation, not too hot and not too cold. Just perfect. There were only a total of four other tables that were spread quite evenly over the large balcony, clearly indicating that this place was for VIP people. And only one of the other tables was currently occupied.

Naruto suddenly remembered part of what Mikoto had drilled into him just hours before and he quickly went to pull out one of the seats before indicating Hinata to take a seat. The Hyuga heiress smiled at the gesture before taking a seat. After this Naruto gently pushed her chair in and they waited patiently for the menu as they made small talk revolving mostly around their teams. Hinata was slightly disappointed that her team had almost failed Kurenai's Genin Exam but was happy overall that they had passed.

Naruto then decided to take out one of his holographic memories for them both to watch as they waited. The memory of course, was of his own Genin Exam with Team Seven against Kakashi. Hinata watched in awe at the display while laughing at Kakashi's more unfortunate moments.

Just as the memory finished they heard another angry cry of, "Himeki!"

"Sorry!" The girl yelled back once again as she appeared through the balcony doors. The waiter took a moment to lean against the door panting heavily before remembering why she was there in the first place. "Oh yes! Sir! Madam! I got your menu!" she shouted out as she blurred towards them.

If Naruto didn't know better he could have sworn that she had had training as a ninja.

After dropping off the two menu, the hyperactive waiter sped right back where she came from. "I'll be back here when you need me!" She informed them as she ran.

"Himeki!"

"Sorry!"

The pair shook their heads at the girl's antics before turning back to the menu. Surprisingly, Hinata knew next to nothing about the contents, something which she admitted shyly to her date. Naruto just smiled at her as he laid down his own menu across the table so that they could both see what was available for dinner.

"How do you know about all this food Naruto-kun? I thought you hardly ever went into restaurants like this before." Hinata asked curiously.

"Let's just say Mum cooks a lot and that Itachi-nii-san, Sasuke and I are very well versed in food." Naruto boasted slightly.

After selecting their orders, the pair was just about to wonder about how they would call their special waiter when another cry of, "Himeki!" rang out.

"Sorry!" The girl shouted back before looking at the dating pair. "So, what are you going to order?" She asked quickly, whipping out a small notebook and a pencil in a flourish.

The masked boy and the Hyuga heiress shared a look before laughing once again. The whole ordeal had taken less than three seconds.

On a nearby roof, that was slightly higher than the restaurant balcony, the group hidden by the genjutsu was watching the pair intently. Well, most of them anyway. It was group made up of the majority of the rookie sixteen with the only exceptions being Neji –as he was, Neji…- and Akumo Chifuyo as her parents had requested her at home for a family dinner.

Most of them had been split off into pairs naturally with the people they were most comfortable with and they were each watching the date in their own way. If you could call stargazing with a partner as 'watching the date' then Kaede and Shikamaru would have been considered very vigilant as they lay side by side on two wooden benches that they had found on the roof.

"Awww, they're so sweet. I wish I could go on a date like that as well." Akane sighed as she watched them. She was so engrossed in the pair that she did not notice how intently Lee seemed to be watching Naruto's movements. Akane also never noticed how he was silent for once as he tried to lip-read what Naruto would say to Hinata and what reaction it would produce.

'So, Akane-chan likes dates like that. I'll see what I can do about that.' Lee thought to himself determinedly. He turned to her and gave off a small grin, not one of his blinding smiles. She would be worth it.

Chouji wasn't registering anything much. He was just eager to see what food they would order and whether it was going to be good. Unfortunately the pair seemed to take a long while to simply order and Chouji had already taken to munching on his chips. When he noticed that the food wasn't going to come anytime soon, he took a seat next to Shikamaru and went right back to chomping on his snack.

Kiba and Shino were playing cards and making bets on just about everything regarding the date. Bets that involved Naruto screwing up, what they would have worn for the night and such. At the moment Kiba had lost every single bet they made, as well as every single card game. He threw down his cards in frustration. "Oi Shino, you're cheating man." He groaned while Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Shino tilted his head slightly to the side while the Aburame smiled. "Please Kiba, do not blame me for your lack of skill and luck. Why? Because you are a pitiful excuse of a card player and an even more pitiful excuse of a gambler. The only reason I even play with you is because I can beat you without even trying." Shino said as he reshuffled the cards.

Kiba growled as he took a share of the deck. "Bring it on bug boy. And I say Naruto will order chicken."

Shino grinned. "And I say he will order beef. Flush."

Kiba almost pulled his hair out. "Damn you Shino!"

Ino, for the life of her, could not figure out what had gotten into Sakura and Sasuke. For starters, her pink haired rival was not even trying to compete for Sasuke's attention. And not that she needed to. Sasuke seemed comfortable enough near to Sakura as they watched the date together while leaning over the balcony. She wanted to find out why. Was it because they were on the same team, or was it because they were dating? She gasped at the possibility and swore to find out soon.

Upon hearing Ino gasp, Sasuke frowned. Sakura instantly understood his predicament. While the Uchiha hated fan girls and wanted to set Ino straight just like he had with Sakura, he just couldn't bring himself to do the same thing at the moment and ruin the overall mood. Sakura was already turning out to be a fair enough friend when she realized that she and Sasuke had next to no chance of being together. She didn't comment anything much however as the majority of her concentration was going into keeping the genjutsu up.

"Hey Ten-chan, wanna go on a date?" Arashi prodded the bun haired girl.

"No." Tenten said bluntly as she went back to watching the pair dreamily.

"Come on, I can give you a great date 'ttebayo!" Arashi persisted.

His answer was a kunai nicking off a few more strands of red hair. "Leave me alone Arashi, I'm busy watching them."

"No you're not." Arashi said cheekily.

"Wha…" Tenten got as far as that before she started thrashing around wildly and rolling around the floor. "No Arashi stop! I'm ticklish!" she squealed in between gasps of laughter.

Arashi grinned now that he had the upper hand. "Only if you say yes to a date with me."

"Never!" Tenten laughed out.

Arashi's grin just grew wider. "Fine then!" He replied before tickling her all over again.

Tenten couldn't think clearly as she was getting slightly dizzy from the tickling and decided to throw a punch in Arashi's general direction. Her fist was greeted by a strong jawbone that sent the red haired boy flying backwards rubbing his jaw while she stood back up shakily.

"Never. Do. That. Again." Tenten threatened.

She never expected what happened next. Due to her being slightly dizzy, she couldn't react fast enough to avoid it. Arashi suddenly leapt up and planted a kiss on her cheek before jumping off the roof.

"See you tomorrow Ten-chan!" he called out.

The attention previously on the date was now turned to Tenten as they had heard and seen most of what had happened. The bun haired girl slowly brought a hand up to the cheek that had been kissed while there was a faraway look in her eyes. "He kissed me." She whispered quietly to herself.

Then realization sank in and her eyes burned with white hot fury as she summoned a gigantic spiked mace that she raised high above her head. "He kissed me!" she yelled angrily before leaping over the roof after Arashi.

Down in the street below the rookies heard something which brought around a small round of laughter.

"Hi Ten-chan! Want another kiss?"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Don't you mean kiss?"

Wham! Smash! Crunch! Crack! Bam!

A few minutes later a slightly winded Tenten made her way back onto the roof where the other rookies stared at her.

"What!?" She growled, raising her large mace once again.

The other rookies wisely returned to what they were doing in watching the date.

By this time the pair had already ordered their meals which were carried in slowly by a much more careful waiter. Someone in the kitchen just didn't seem to trust Himeki in carrying the food. It wasn't very hard to wonder why.

A total of five dishes were chosen for the pair in the belief that they would be served in small amounts. They were wrong. Each dish seemed to have the capacity to fill at least two people. Naruto didn't mind this very much considering his appetite but Hinata was feeling more than a bit nervous. The reason being was that she wasn't like most other girls in her class that stuck to diets and the like and she would admit to being very embarrassed regarding her own eating habits.

They weren't very excessive mind you, just what her mother dubbed a healthy amount for active kunoichi like herself. The problem was even if her mother deemed it a healthy amount and a good habit, she was unsure what her date would think and whether she should eat her normal amount and risk being called fat or reduce her intake and risk being called another pointless dieter.

Unaware of his partner's inner turmoil Naruto looked towards Hinata before asking a question that solved her problems. "Hinata-chan, please tell me you can help me finish this." Naruto all but pleaded.

The Hyuga heiress nodded quickly with a smile before voicing a question that had been bugging her as she watched her date arrange food onto his spoon. "Naruto-kun, how are you going to eat with your mask on?"

She was surprised when he suddenly began chewing and she noticed that the food he had been arranging on his spoon had disappeared. Naruto then looked up at her. "I don't see the problem." He said after swallowing what he had in his mouth.

Hinata's questioning gaze prompted him to answer. "It's a little jutsu that Kakashi-sensei taught me. I honestly wonder how nobody ever wondered how the Hatake clan managed to eat in public without taking their masks off."

Hinata nodded in realization before noticing something else. Her blonde date seemed to carefully taste every dish before grimacing slightly, as if he was expecting something that he didn't quite receive. Naruto pushed back his chair slowly to get up to call a waiter when Himeki suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"What do you need sir?" She asked inquisitively.

"I need something to write on and something to write with please." Naruto replied.

In the blink of an eye Himeki, the said materials appeared in Himeki's hands as she put them lay them carefully in front of 'Arata'. Naruto began to set to work on the writing as Hinata kept on eating, curious as to what her date was doing but at the same time being patient as she knew that he would tell her later on.

When he was done he looked over the sheet once before nodding and handing it back to the waiter. "Please take this back to the chefs." Naruto requested.

Himeki nodded once before she disappeared in another flash.

"What was that Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she carefully chewed her food.

"Just some tips I decided to give the waiters regarding the food Hinata-chan." Naruto explained casually as he cut out a chunk of the beef steak after spreading a bit of the sauce on top. Naruto could have sworn he heard someone that sounded a little like Kiba swearing over the empty rooftop across the street but decided that it was nothing for a while.

"Isn't it an insult to their cooking if you do that? I can't find anything wrong with this Naruto-kun." Hinata said a little uncertainly. She wasn't confident in her tasting skills anymore. All the current dishes were delicious already in her opinion.

Naruto gave out a small chuckle. "Constructive criticism isn't an insult Hinata-chan. If they do decide to listen to it they're going to find out how much help it will be. As for your second point, you haven't tasted anything good yet! Remind me to cook for you some time."

Hinata's opinion of Naruto shot up a few more notches. She had been close friends with him for a year and she didn't even catch a hint that he knew how to cook. Granted, she never asked. But it should have at least come into the conversation at least once right? Unless he was purposefully hiding that skill for some reason and something made him bring it out tonight. What could that have been?

Naruto caught Hinata eyeing him closely and managed to stop a grin. Mikoto was right when she said that girls tended to like guys who could cook. He had thought of it as something embarrassing at first because he thought that it was a 'girly' thing to be doing and he didn't really want anyone to know about it. Oh how wrong he was.

The pair got so lost into further conversation that before they knew it, their meal was finished and Himeki had suddenly reappeared to clear their table. Hinata knew that she was thoroughly enjoying what she would call her first date with a boy she had crushed on for quite some time now. The only thing that she did not know was how much more Naruto had still planned for the night.

Naruto got off his seat a little elegantly and coughed slightly to get Hinata's attention while holding something behind his back. Using a small storage seal he had drawn onto his wrist earlier, he was able to summon the bouquet of flowers that he had carefully handpicked earlier from the Yamanaka flower shop.

Hinata gasped at the beautiful bouquet of flowers when he presented them to her. Lavender and purple roses were blended together with patches of light blue camellia flowers scattered here and there. She accepted the wonderful present from her seat with a large smile on her face as she took a sniff of the lovely flowers. The Hyuga heiress looked back up at the one who gifted her flowers only to see him cocking his head to the side a little, asking whether she liked it.

His answer was a quick hug which startled him since Hinata had all but leapt out of her chair. "Thank you Naruto-kun! It's beautiful!" Hinata exclaimed happily.

Naruto slowly pried her off him. "That's not all. Trace this seal." He asked her kindly as he pointed to the intricately drawn seal on the wrapping of the bouquet.

The moment was interrupted by a chef that jumped out onto the balcony wildly waving around the paper that Naruto had written down before the pair had started dinner. "Arata Uchiha!" he yelled out.

Hinata gulped as she looked at Naruto nervously while whispering, "I told you they would get insulted."

Naruto however, didn't seem to be bothered and was ready for any form of anger from the man. He was used to it anyways. "Yes, that is me."

What they weren't expecting was for the man to leap in joy and bound towards them with a lit up face. "I'm terribly sorry sir if I'm interrupting anything important but my fellow chefs and I in the kitchen would like to make you an offer regarding your payment for tonight. We have decided that if you can spare us a few minutes in the kitchen that your bill tonight will be considered paid in full." The man spoke hurriedly.

The Hyuga heiress's and the whiskered boy's eyes widened in shock before turning to each other. Hinata gave him a slight nod to show that he had permission to go. "Please lead the way." Naruto said to the eager chef before turning back to Hinata. "And while I'm gone Hinata-chan, take the time trace that seal."

"Sure thing Arata-kun." Hinata smiled as she started work on tracing the seal carefully. She had remembered just in time to use his cover name for the night, something which she thanked her common sense for. There was probably no worse way for her to blow up their date other than slipping up in the name calling.

Seeing that she was now alone, the four people on the other table decided to include Hinata into their conversation.

"Dear, those are some beautiful flowers. Did you ask your date where he got them?" One of the older females at the table commented.

Hinata turned to the four person group at the other table and smiled kindly. "Knowing Arata-kun, he probably picked them himself from somewhere." She sighed dreamily.

The young woman that had asked her the question chuckled along with the rest of her group. "No need to hide from us honey, we heard you calling him Naruto-kun before the chef came."

Hinata tensed as she looked at them suspiciously.

The older woman noticed this. "Come. Come now dear why are you looking at us like that? Is it because you're both too young to be here?" the woman teased.

"You know us shinobi, we tend to do things early." Hinata said, still a little cautious but not wanting to sound rude.

"Don't worry, we won't tell your parents. Not that we know them." One of the men joked as he took a sip of wine from his glass. Right after which he put a cigarette into his mouth to smoke.

"Just don't do anything too serious at that age." The other woman in the grinned almost cheekily as Hinata blushed from the hidden meaning.

The first woman turned to her friend with a glare. "Kakasha-chan! They're still children!" she scolded.

Kakasha turned to her friend. "Ma ma, Kure-chan. Leave them alone. They might want to have some fun." Kakasha said suggestively as she twirled her wine glass a bit and winked at the blushing Hyuga heiress.

The other male shot up. "How unyouthful!"

Hinata looked at them suspiciously. "You guys aren't from here are you?"

Kure looked at the girl in surprise. "How did you figure that out?"

"For starters, you don't seem to care who Naruto-kun is." The white eyed girl replied.

"Why? Should we know him?" Kakasha asked inquisitively. "Is he a real looker under that mask?" She added with an eye smile.

Hinata shook her head before laughing. "Never mind, and yes, he looks good under the mask Kakasha-san."

After that, Hinata got back to her task on tracing the seal that she had been given. She carried on making small talk to the group on the other table but the majority of her attention went to the small seal on her flower bouquet. She noticed how her finger left light blue markings on the parts of the seal that she traced. After a good three to four minutes the white-eyed girl managed to finish the seal which flashed a bright white light that temporarily blinded everyone on the balcony.

When the flash of light cleared, the other four at the neighboring table looked over to Hinata, or rather what was now in her lap, to sate their curiosity. The bouquet was still there, but right next to it was now a butterfly pendant. But not just any butterfly pendant. The four winged butterfly still had a normal silver chain, but its most noticeable feature was that it was made of a dark blue crystal and the designs on its wings were a dark blue purple and both crystal types glinted in the moonlight.

"Wow." Kure said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Wow indeed." Naruto said as he appeared behind Hinata who was still seated in the chair. He took both ends of the pendant and brought them around the white eyed girl's neck before clasping them together. "I hope you like it." The blonde boy said nervously.

"Naruto-kun, I love it." Hinata replied before giving Naruto another hug. "What did you have to do in the kitchen?"

Naruto sighed. "Apparently they chose to follow the advice I wrote on the paper a while ago and they liked they results. They called me to help assist in mending their other dishes and I even taught them a few new ones." The masked boy answered proudly.

"You did all that in eight minutes?" Kakasha said disbelievingly.

The group then felt Naruto smirk underneath his dark orange mask. "Shadow clones."

"Ahh." Kakasha said dumbly.

Naruto then held out a hand to Hinata. "And our reward for my services tonight, we get five special dance songs from a band that's going to play that piano over there with some other instruments. So, care to dance?"

"You don't even have to ask." Hinata replied as she took his hand.

"You can enter now!" 'Arata' called out. One by one a group of men in tailored suits walked out to the piano with some carrying violins and cellos.

"May we join?" Kure asked sweetly.

Naruto nodded warmly towards their group and Kure grabbed her smoking partner to join in on the dancing. "What about you two?" Naruto asked Kakasha and her partner.

"I'll pass." Kakasha said as she swirled her glass of wine.

"I don't know how to dance anyway." He partner admitted sadly.

Naruto shrugged and spent the next fifteen minutes dancing with Hinata, the music slow at first before it sped up gradually until the fifth song. Naruto was suddenly very glad about his crash course in dancing with his adoptive mother earlier on in the day. He had caught on easily and had wondered what was so important about the activity, until of course he experienced it firsthand with Hinata that night.

Hinata on the other hand could not believe how much life was looking up for her at the moment and just didn't want it to end.

"Hey Hinata-chan." Naruto whispered quietly into her ear.

"Hmmm?" Hinata hummed back softly with her head on his shoulder.

"Do you like stargazing?" he asked.

"Yes, it's a nice thing to do at night when I can't sleep."

Naruto grinned behind his mask. "Good, because I know a place where we can watch the sky for a while."

Without needing to pay the massive bill, Naruto was able to leave a large tip for the band and for, of course, Himeki who gave a quick thanks before dashing back to the kitchen.

"Himeki!"

"Sorry!"

Naruto and Hinata laughed. How long would Himeki last being the way she was?

Before Naruto left he had one last issue to deal with. While Hinata's back was turned to him as she went through the glass doors, he turned around and released a chakra pulse.

The four other guests on the rooftop wondered what had happened before they saw Naruto waving at them. Only looking at each other did they realize that their cover had been blown. "Ja ne!" Naruto waved one last time before turning to look at the rooftop across the street.

"I know you're there guys, try hiding better next time!" Naruto called out.

"Damn it!" they heard Kiba cry out.

Naruto laughed once more and followed Hinata out through the door.

On the balcony the four 'guests' sighed.

"Busted." Asuma grunted cheerfully.

"I forgot he could do that." Kakashi groaned, his Kakasha form having been disabled by the chakra pulse.

"How unyouthful of me to forget as well!" Gai fake cried. "At least Naruto-kun's Flames of Youth burn bright! I just need to work harder on mine!" Gai declared.

Asuma took a puff of smoke out of his pipe. "You have a very promising student Kakashi." The bearded man complimented the one eyed jonin.

Kakashi scowled beneath his mask. "As if that wasn't obvious enough during our spar Asuma."

Kurenai got in between the two before anything else could happen. "Calm down boy's. We at least now have an idea on what our genin standings are and how to train them." Kurenai said positively, also slightly embarrassed at being ratted out so easily.

* * *

(Meanwhile, Hokage Office)

"What do you mean Osamu escaped!" Hiruzen yelled angrily at the ANBU in front of him.

"Prisoner 4538 has escaped by yet unknown means less than an hour ago Hokage-sama." The cat masked ANBU reported in front of the raging Hokage.

"How did this happen?" Danzo asked calmly but in a frighteningly solid tone.

"He had some inside help. The ANBU guarding the cells were all knocked out from behind using a non lethal compound that we cannot trace, Danzo-sama."

The two elders looked between Danzo and Hiruzen.

"Your orders Hokage-sama." Danzo asked formally.

"Stop with the formality Danzo and order what you would have done." Hiruzen scowled.

Danzo gave his old friend a smile of trust. "Fu, Torune. Carry out orders to temporarily lock down the village walls and inspect every person going in and out before we search the village. With Hiruzen's permission we will activate the chakra deactivating section on the walls to try and make sure they have not gone far. Recall the entire current hunter nin currently in the village and order a search and destroy operation to commence immediately."

Hiruzen nodded in approval and turned to his own ANBU. "You have heard Danzo and I support his plan. You will temporarily assist Danzo in this joint operation."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" The ANBU all chanted before scattering.

Unfortunately for the operation, it was already doomed to fail. Kabuto had already discovered more than one secret way to safely get out of the village and he had already made sure that Osamu was well on his way back to Otogakure.

* * *

 **Well that's done. Nothing much but a filler chapter today, one that I'm sure that you all enjoyed. I'm probably going to take some tips from this for when I have Naruto and Hinata go out in Master of Jiongu.**

 **Get ready real soon for the next chapter as Zabuza and co. battle for Haku!**

 **By the way, quick little thing I HAVE to say here before I go...**

 **THE HYPE IS REAL! THE HYPE IS REAL! STAR WARS IS AMAZING! THIS IS THE NEW AGE OF GREATNESS!**

 **The movie was sooooo goooood! I was excited, I laughed at funny scenes! I almost cried at one point! Watch it if you want to know because I'M NOT TELLING!**

 **I'm just disappointed that the person I dressed up as for Halloween was COMPLETELY USELESS!**

 **GO AND WATCH THE MOVIE, YOU SHALL! FOR IT IS IMPRESSIVE, MOST IMPRESSIVE!**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	9. Chapter 9: Dark Deals

Chapter 9: Dark Deals

* * *

 **(Yatsu): A late Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to you all!**

 **(TDDE): I would have posted this earlier, but I was out of state for the holidays. (Not to mention busy with new video games)**

 **Review Time:**

 **KuronoDono12:**

 **(Yatsu): The date idea only really came around because of a scene I played out in a previous chapter that was a spur of the moment. To avoid a plot hole I decided to write out the date instead and check how it would go.**

 **As for your second concern: Yes, Naruto will be able to use vehicle modes but this will take place a little later on in the story.**

 **Rebmul:**

 **(Yatsu): Love your reviews man, you always seem to have something funny to say!**

 **(TDDE): It's still in theaters, I went to see it again three days ago.**

 **tirthu. 8:**

 **(TDDE): Good sir, I ask you to think logically, would Haku be able to escape Orochimaru?**

 **TheBelgian:**

 **(TDDE): Captain Phasma...**

 **Kairitrion Cerulean:**

 **(Yatsu): Haha, enjoy your holidays. We don't mind if you skipped the romance stuff, just hoping that you stick around!**

 **(TDDE): Could have been from Hans family, we have no idea who his parents were.**

 **(Yatsu): The five guardians of Orochimaru: (Moeru, Lightning Guardian) (Osamu, Earth Guardian) (Dekishi, Water Guardian) (Honou, Fire Guardian) (Kyoufuu, Wind Guardian)**

 **The three swordsmen: Zabuza - Kubikiri no bocho (Executioner's blade), Jinpachi – Shibuki (Exploding sword), Kushimaru – Nuibari (Needle sword)**

 **Now then, let the party begin!**

* * *

(Orochimaru's Base)

"Kukukuku. Please do not tell me you will do something as stupid as attack me in my own base. I know for a fact that each one of you is smarter than that." Orochimaru scolded.

Zabuza's voice echoed from all around the room. "We shall see Orochimaru, we shall see."

Realizing the danger each of the four brothers activated their cursed seals to the first level.

"There are eight vital points on each of your bodies…" Zabuza continued coldly, still nowhere in sight. "The heart, the spine, the lungs, the larynx, the kidneys, the jugular vein, the collar bone and the liver. Which one would you like me to strike?"

The brothers shivered a little while Orochimaru's smirk only grew wider.

"Kukuku, it will be a pleasure to see three of the swordsman of the mist in battle. I invite you to hit all eight points then, Zabuza-kun."

Kyoufuu turned to his master in confusion. "Orochimaru-sama? Did you just invite them to fight us?"

"Eyes in front!" Zabuza snarled, suddenly appearing out of nowhere in front of the wind guardian with his sword posed to cleave the man in two.

 **"Fuuton: Kotai Kuuki no Ken!"** (Wind Release: Sword of Solid Air) Kyoufuu shouted out in desperation.

The only hint of there even being a sword was the distortion of the air around the blade itself. A loud and powerful clang resounded from the collision of the two weapons. Kyoufuu felt his knees almost buckle from the force of Zabuza's hit.

And just as suddenly as he had appeared, the Demon of the Mist disappeared back into the depths of the mist he had created.

The four brothers unconsciously moved closer together and back to back in the middle of the room while Orochimaru sat on his stone throne, grinning at the proceedings. Or rather, his mud clone was. The real Orochimaru had wisely left the area just as the mist was conjured.

 **"Fuuton: Reppushou!"** (Wind Release: Gale Palm) Kyoufuu shouted, trying to disperse the mist to give them some form of added visibility.

They heard a snort from somewhere in the mist. "For Orochimaru's elite, you sure are stupid. We are in an enclosed room. Where the hell do you expect the mist to go after blowing it?" Jinpachi sounded like he was scolding a stubborn child.

Honou looked around quickly, annoyed by the mist. **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire)

The large, widespread attack spread out quickly and through the flame, the four brothers could see three very fast moving shadows blurring around them. That was before the fire suddenly died.

"Honou, what just happened?" Moeru asked angrily. "We know that you can keep that fire up for much longer than that pathetic excuse! Now's not the time to be messing around!"

"Shut up Moeru I don't know!" Honou snapped back.

They were silenced when they heard three laughs echo around the room. "My my, fighting amongst each other already. How pitiful." Kushimaru said with mirth evident in his voice.

"Aww, little fire boy doesn't know what happened to his fire jutsu?" Jinpachi mocked. "Let's just say that this mist is made up of water, and we control both the mist and the water. What we did was simple, thicken the mist with moisture and say bye bye to the fire." He added.

Honou bristled, if they could do that then he was at a severe disadvantage with his element in the thick mist that darkened the room and severely limited their visibility. They could see for a few meters around them, but for a shinobi, a few meters usually meant nothing.

Zabuza decided to add in his opinion. "Someone please tell the fire brat that he is absolutely useless in this fight and that it would be wise for him to step aside like the useless brat he is."

That struck a chord.

"Don't count me out so easily!" Honou snarled. "Katon: Kasai Sasori!" (Fire Release: Fire Scorpion)

The giant ball of flames that appeared quickly began to shrink into a marble sized ball. Honou's grin was felt all around the room. "Escape this!" he declared, preparing to launch the deadly marble sized attack.

 **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** (Water Release: Liquid Bullets) A very fast ball of water shot out of the mist and engulfed the marble of compressed fire, extinguishing it quickly.

"Escape what?" Jinpachi asked cheekily.

"Why you little…"

"Honou move!" Kyoufuu yelled urgently. The wind guardian sent a strong push of wind to get his brother out of the way while he and the other two leapt away from the previous spot. Less than a second later Jinpachi's Shibuki slammed down onto the ground where they had been standing. The resulting explosion rocked the small room violently from the force of the blast.

"Good eye." Jinpachi complimented.

The wind guardian turned to the sound of the voice only to scream when a needle sword erupted from his shoulder.

"Just don't get distracted." Jinpachi laughed when he disappeared back into the mist.

Kyoufuu quickly cut the wire that followed the Nuibari to prevent any follow up that the needle swordsman may have done. The wound quickly healed due to the extra boost the curse mark gave them and the wind guardian swung his arm around to test it. It was good as new.

Reacting purely on instinct, Kyoufuu spun around just in time to block another killer slash that would have cut him in half at the waist.

"I like you." Zabuza commented in a menacing tone that sent shivers down the man's spine. "So you're going to be all mine, like a delicious minced meat dish on my plate." The Demon of the Mist added before adding strength to his push.

Despite his best efforts, Kyoufuu had to admit that Zabuza was freakishly strong and he was being pushed back. He was in no position to abandon the current state they were currently forced into while they locked swords. If he loosened the force just one bit, Zabuza would have a clear shot at him. And despite its size, Zabuza wielded the Kubikiri like a newspaper roll.

Another disadvantage was that since both his hands were occupied, he didn't have very much to retaliate against the bandaged swordsman. Added to this, he had been separated from his brothers when Jinpachi had blasted down their previous position.

He was saved from his predicament when a metallic bo staff, that had been set on fire, plunged down towards Zabuza's head. The swordsman was forced to back away from the wind guardian to evade it.

"Hey Kyoufuu, need some help?" Honou asked seriously. These swordsmen were good and he knew it.

"Glad you could come Honou. Where are Dekishi and Moeru?" Kyoufuu asked as the pair now stared at Zabuza who wasn't bothering to remain hidden anymore.

Honou scoffed. "If you can hear all the explosions and the lightning going around, I can guess that they have their own fights to deal with."

Kyoufuu looked to his fire brother then back at Zabuza. "Then let's finish him quickly so we can help the others.

"Agreed." Honou replied, making his staff burn hotter and brighter. "I can't do much with my fire techniques, they've already proven that."

Zabuza gave off another vile laugh, the thrill of the fight getting to him. "So you think you can take me hm? You two are more stupid than you look. Here's a present for everyone in here. **Suiton: Joushou Kouzui!"** (Water Release: Rising Flood)

Honou and Kyoufuu looked at the floor in surprise when they felt their feet get wet. The water level in the room began to rise quickly and the brothers had to use chakra to stay on top of the water. They silently thanked Orochimaru for making the ceiling thirty feet up in the air as the water level only stopped rising once it reached fifteen feet.

Before Kyoufuu could stop him Honou's mouth shot off. "That's it? This was to make the fight more difficult? Sure we're standing on water and fighting in a mist, but that doesn't really matter! It just means that somebody is going to get wet!" The fire guardian said sarcastically.

The pair could not see Zabuza's grin behind the bandages on his face. "No, that's just the first half. Here's the second! **Suiton: Kuufuku no Suisame!"** (Water Release: Hungry Water Sharks)

Looking back down into the crystal clear water, Honou and Kyoufuu saw that it was now teeming with large sharks that were thrashing around violently. The surface of the water that they were standing on was also no longer steady, due to the movement of the huge water sharks, small waves were being thrown about the surface making it much more difficult to stand on.

"My and I comrades will be safe from this jutsu but other than us three, those sharks will tear apart anything that goes under the water, even for the briefest of seconds." Zabuza explained slowly.

"Good job Honou. Bloody brilliant job." Kyoufuu retorted sarcastically as he glared at his brother.

The Demon of the Mist gave his sword a few experimental swings to help loosen his arms a little bit before setting a hungry gaze upon the two before him.

"I hope you're ready to dance!" He yelled wildly as he blurred towards the two tense guardians.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

"My my, someone looks a little lost." Kushimaru commented sadistically from somewhere within the mist.

Moeru tensed and tightly gripped the handles of his two daggers. He was currently holding them both in a reverse grip and running lightning chakra through the chakra conductive metal. The lightning guardian quickly realized how stupid it had been of him and his brothers to separate in different directions into the mist since at the moment they were truly lost from each other. The three swordsmen however seemed to be at home within the blanketing mist.

There was a glint that flashed in the corner of Moeru's eye and he ducked quickly as the Nuibari flew overhead with its wire trailing it, crackling with lightning. Wait, lightning? "You have a lightning affinity as well?" Moeru asked a little unsurely.

Behind his ANBU face mask Kushimaru chuckled in a dry voice. "What's it to you? I've got very high water and lightning affinities just so you know. Idiot." Then in rapid succession, Nuibari flew towards Moeru multiple times in blinding blue flashes, very similar to fencing while the end of the sword was attached to very durable wire.

The lightning guardian knew that he was only able to keep up due to his own lightning abilities that heightened his senses, deflecting the deadly needle sword to the side with his own lightning induced daggers each time. Noticing that his target was keeping up, Kushimaru upped the pace at which he was 'poking' Moeru, withdrawing the sword with the wire attached to it.

Quickly adapting, the lightning guardian changed his style from defensive crosses to sweeping his arms around to keep out of the way, slowly closing the distance with his ranged opponent.

After a few more slashes to protect himself, Moeru managed to time a jump and front flipped over the Nuibari. While in midair he watched as the Nuibari flew past him and he severed the wire that was attached to the needle sword.

Thinking that his opponent was defenseless without his weapon, Moeru charged forward intent on making a killing blow. When the swordsman didn't make any move to avoid him, Moeru felt a fleeting concern cross his mind. By a stroke of luck he heard high pitched whistling behind him and abruptly abandoned his assault. The lightning guardian took the quickest way out and dropped to roll to the side as the Nuibari flew past him and back into Kushimaru's hand.

"What? How?" he asked surprised. _'With the wire how did he pull it back to him!?'_ Moeru thought to himself. Swords couldn't just fly, could they?

"My my, looks like I surprised little lightning boy." Kushimaru teased as he twirled Nuibari. "The rope doesn't really do anything in regards to my controlling the weapon. It's just there to help me sew targets together." Kushimaru explained matter of factly. "And when the wire is cut, Nuibari makes its own once again."

Moeru blanched slightly at that bit of information when suddenly both warriors realized that the water level in the room was rising fast. With little choice they both used chakra to stay on top of the water.

When the water stopped rising, Moeru studied his opponent carefully to check if it was the swordsman's doing. He didn't bother to ask again, Kushimaru would probably just mock him.

"Ah, looks like Zabuza wants to have some fun." Kushimaru commented as he stared at the water that had stopped rising. Kushimaru then tilted his head to the side slightly. "Wow, he really wants to have some fun." The needle swordsman added with some mirth in his voice.

Curious as to what he was looking at, Moeru glanced down only to gasp in horror. "What the hell!? Sharks!" The water began to churn wildly and Moeru realized that it was getting harder and harder to remain on the surface of the water.

Kushimaru laughed gleefully. "Do you want to play a game? It's called Shark Food. First one to go under gets eaten by the sharks!"

Moeru looked at Kushimaru as if he was crazy. "I don't really have a choice now do I?" He asked sarcastically.

The needle swordsman snorted. "Damn right you don't. **Raiton: Raikyu no Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage) The swordsman began spewing out soccer ball sized lightning balls towards the struggling guardian.

 **"Raiton: Kuro Ikazuchi Netto!"** (Lightning Release: Black Lightning Net) Moeru countered. A massive fishing net made of black lightning shot away from him. The lightning balls all struck the huge net but their progress was immediately halted before they blew up in the net. The resulting blue flash momentarily blinded Moeru and he nearly missed the needle sword that threatened to pierce his chest.

All he got however was a glancing blow on his arm that healed quickly enough before he found himself in vicious exchange of blows from Kushimaru who had suddenly closed the distance in between them and was now using the Nuibari as a close quarters sword.

Moeru had trouble parrying all the blows and sudden strikes due to the unpredictability of the long sword that would either aim to slash or stab him. Each bow he blocked or parried would result in a flash of blue sparks that were distracting to say the least.

The lightning guardian discovered that there were no openings for him to exploit to go on the offensive as the swordsman kept up the ferocious onslaught towards him. One minute Kushimaru would use the Nuibari as a slashing sword and the next minute the swordsman would start fencing.

The lightning guardian also idly noted that Kushimaru was moving with the grace of a dancer, the long and nimble body weaving in and out as if dancing to music that he could not hear. Putting that to the back of his mind, Moeru decided to take a risk. Being on the defensive for so long was just inviting mistakes on his part and with an opponent like Kushimaru he was sure that the swordsman would not miss any opportunity given to him by the lightning guardian.

Moeru coated his hand in lightning chakra instead of his dagger and in a bold move, grabbed onto the Nuibari to keep it in place. There was a barely audible grunt of surprise from Kushimaru's side but that was quickly forgotten when Moeru felt a boot crash into his chest, forcing him to let go of the needle sword.

The lightning guardian, for a moment, almost forgot that he was supposed to stay above the water he was fighting on. He fell backwards and his feet sank down up to the knees in the water. He was quickly reminded of the potential danger when a water shark narrowly missed chomping his foot off as it clamped its jaws shut.

Panting slightly, Moeru turned to Kushimaru and he could swear the older swordsman was mocking him from behind the mask. The needle swordsman twirled his sword again. "That was a close call, really close. Wouldn't you say so?"

Moeru snarled as he leapt towards the other swordsman to re engage him in another fierce bout of swords. The guardian tilted his head to the side to avoid a jab aimed at his face. Before Kushimaru could slice down, Moeru twirled on his feet and managed to nick the hunter nin mask with his dagger before blocking a slash at his stomach.

The guardian then ducked low under a horizontal slash before trying to lash out at the older swordsman's stomach only to meet air. Kushimaru took a step back to get himself out of range of the daggers and Moeru followed to close the distance. Big mistake.

He realized something was wrong when a fist collided powerfully with his jaw knocking his face to the side only to receive a harsh knee to the gut that knocked him backwards. Despite the taller man's exceedingly thin frame, Kushimaru packed a heavy punch that defied physics.

As Moeru stumbled backwards, Kushimaru thrust Nuibari straight towards the guardian's heart, intent on quickly ending the match.

Realizing the danger, Moeru managed to knock the needle sword slightly off its intended path. The good news was that it missed his heart entirely. The bad news was that he received a lightning induced needle sword piercing through his shoulder and out the other side. Even worse, he almost got his head bitten off when his upper torso took a small dip into the churning water below.

Somehow, he knew that he wasn't out of danger yet and rolled to the side on the water surface just in time to see the Nuibari shoot through the water where he had been laying earlier. To his horror a water shark had been directly under the needle sword and practically swallowed it. The Nuibari however was unharmed as Kushimaru turned his attention back to the wounded guardian.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) Moeru shouted out in desperation. The large lightning bolt shot out of the guardian's mouth and surprised Kushimaru enough to momentarily shock him giving Moeru enough time to put some distance in between them.

"Heh, that was so much big talk about the legendary swordsman! I managed to hit you and you only hit me a couple of times!" Moeru mocked. Although underneath the façade, he knew he was outmatched in terms of raw skill with the man. He could probably overpower Kushimaru in his second stage of his cursed seal but there were certain drawbacks that Orochimaru was still trying to fix. One such drawback was immediate loss of consciousness once they deactivated the cursed seal and with the current situation, that was not very favorable. Either the swordsman got him or he was torn apart by the sharks beneath him.

Kushimaru scoffed. "My my, confident aren't we. And you said I only got you a couple of times? Look again kid."

Moeru glanced down at his clothes and gaped at what he saw. The wounds had already healed but his clothes for the most part had been shredded already. He hadn't even felt those cuts inflicted!

"If you did not have that power of yours to heal, you would have been dead from blood loss already." Kushimaru complimented in an offhand manner.

Moeru grit his teeth. He could not use the second stage and he was already having trouble with the first. His only hope now was to keep playing defensive and hope that one of his brothers could come and aid him. If they could even find him through the mist, that is.

* * *

(With Dekishi and Jinpachi)

After Dekishi had been separated from his brothers, he quickly realized that he was all on his own. The water guardian had tried to control the water in the mist to no avail and gave up trying after a minute. 'These other water users are very strong. I hope Honou will not be reckless here.' He thought absentmindedly as he peered at the mist around him.

"Feeling uncomfortable?" Jinpachi asked casually as he strolled out of the mist, Shibuki slung over his shoulder like a baseball bat.

"Not too much." Dekishi replied, turning to face his opponent. "Why are you fighting us anyway? Wouldn't it be better if we work together like we originally planned?"

"That plan was shot to hell the second you lay your hand on Haku." Jinpachi answered truthfully, exposing his pointed teeth as he grinned maliciously at the water guardian.

Dekishi tried to explain their actions. "That was just to get the three of you to reconsider our proposal and to ensure that you all listen carefully. Orochimaru-sama would be a big help to your cause in Kirigakure."

"Have any of the terms changed?" Jinpachi asked curiously.

Dekishi sighed. "Yes. From our side we request nothing more than your permission to receive a new seal of Orochimaru-sama that he has been developing and the rebels will receive Orochimaru's assistance in the forms of manpower and technology as well as the return of our current captive." Dekishi winced at the last part when Jinpachi frowned.

"Haku should be in untouched condition when we receive her, guardian. Because I don't think my comrades or I will allow anyone here to live." Jinpachi's voice darkened near the end.

"Don't worry, Orochimaru-sama anticipated this and has strictly ordered nothing to be done on the ice user. Why do you care so much anyways, you would risk your lives attacking this place just for one girl?" Dekishi asked curiously, intrigued that three of the legendary swordsman would act so recklessly.

"You apparently do not understand the importance of bonds, boy." Jinpachi sneered menacingly.

"I understand the bond with my brothers and how I care for them. One of them is currently prisoner in Konohagakure. As much as I want to storm the village and rescue him, I am not as suicidal to attack such an impossible enemy with a force as small as me and my brothers." Dekishi answered truthfully, wondering if the bond between the swordsmen and the girl was that much stronger than the bonds he currently had.

Jinpachi sighed as he dropped the Shibuki from his shoulder, putting the water guardian on guard. "Ever make a promise to someone before?" Jinpachi asked off handedly. Upon seeing Dekishi's clueless expression he continued. "Zabuza, Kushimaru and I all swore in blood, to a dying person that was special to us, that we would prevent any harm from coming to that girl. And as any true warrior, we intend to honour her wishes and keep our word." The explosive swordsman got into a fighting stance.

"This is still pointless to me and I want to avoid a confrontation as much as possible." Dekishi sighed as he took his own fighting stance.

"I'm afraid it is too late for peace talks. Zabuza seems like he wants to kill someone. I feel sorry for whichever of your foolish brothers are facing him right now." Jinpachi replied harshly with a malicious smile as the floor beneath them began to fill with water and violent sharks. "Now, let us fight!"

Dekishi took notice of the churning waters beneath him and scowled. 'Powerful indeed.' He concluded in his head. "As you wish." The water guardian responded before firing fast moving bullets of water from his mouth. **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** (Water Release: Liquid Bullets)

Jinpachi looked insulted for a moment as he stayed stock still in his fighting stance before swinging the Shibuki to smash into one of the fast moving masses of water that were headed his way. The explosion that occurred afterwards redirected all the other bullets that had been headed his way. The explosive swordsman scowled. "I thought you were supposed to be the powerful water user here. What the hell are you doing using basics against me!" he roared angrily at the slightly shocked Dekishi.

 _'He's right! What a stupid move! This is a swordsman of the mist!'_ the water guardian mentally smacked himself.

"With all this water around you should have been more than able to make some powerful attacks, or are you just too weak against me in this element?" Jinpachi sneered harshly as he taunted the younger ninja.

Dekishi scowled back. "Don't think you're that much better than me! I'm at home here! You're biggest mistake is giving me so much water to work with!"

The look Jinpachi gave him, as if he was regarding a total novice, was infuriating the water guardian. "Take this old man! **Suiton: Suiryuudan!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet) A large dragon swirled up from the churning body of water below and its bright yellow eyes glinted before giving out a ferocious roar. The water serpent flew towards the explosive swordsman at an insane speed, its mighty roar threatening to deafen Jinpachi.

The older man however just smirked. "Now that's more like it!" he yelled excitedly.

Just before the behemoth of a dragon crashed down upon him, Jinpachi swung Shibuki so that it slammed right in the face of the roaring serpent.

The explosion rocked the giant beast so violently that it dissipated back into water in a short shower of rain. "Is that it?" Jinpachi mocked.

"Shut it! **Suiton: Suiryuudan no Taigun!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet horde) Now instead of one, ten massive dragons burst into existence and sped towards their target greedily.

"Impressive, but I can do better! **Suiton: Suiryuudan no Taigun!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet horde) Jinpachi unleashed his own horde of noticeably bigger dragons. But that wasn't the only noticeable difference in the moves. The most obvious difference being that Jinpachi had called forth twice as many dragons as his counterpart.

The smaller and outnumbered dragons were brutally ripped apart as the larger ones carried on unhindered towards the water guardian.

Dekishi quickly realized the danger he was in and created a water clone a distance away before quickly substituting with it, getting him out of harm's way. It was just in time too as the area he had been standing on previously had been blown apart powerfully creating a good amount of powerful waves.

The water guardian also noted violent surges of electricity nearby in the mist and wondered if he could risk finding his lightning brother. The decision was taken from him when Jinpachi suddenly appeared in front of him already getting ready to bring down Shibuki onto the water guardian.

 _'Fast!'_ the thought barely registered in Dekishi's mind as he rolled quickly to the side to avoid the deadly slash. He jumped up to evade another swipe and flipped backwards to try and make some room. He had two steel rods on his back that he normally used in fights that turned into deadly whips of pressurized water when he channeled his chakra through them. But blocking the explosive sword that Jinpachi was carelessly swinging around was a very, very bad idea. It was practically the equivalent of offering himself up on a silver platter. The problem was that he could not risk staying close to the swordsman and Jinpachi had also proven that his water techniques were far stronger than his own.

Suddenly a light bulb lit up brightly in Dekishi's head. Without seals, four water clones all popped into existence around him and rapidly began wielding twin water whips with deadly accuracy. Due to the whip length being controlled by chakra amount, Dekishi and his clones could easily vary the length of their whips to fit almost any situation.

Jinpachi began laughing as the man started to exhibit his years of experience by expertly weaving through the flashing whips, even when he was surrounded and being heavily assaulted from five sides.

Without warning, the explosive swordsman made a sudden dash forward and appeared in front of one of the clones who seemed completely helpless to stop the grinning swordsman. "Bye bye!" Jinpachi waved before smashing his fist against the top of the clones head, sending it underwater to the mercy of the sharks where it was mercilessly torn apart.

"Nope, not this one." Jinpachi chuckled.

The remaining clones grimaced as they regrouped and reinitiated their assault on Jinpachi who didn't even seem slightly winded. While three of the water guardians tried to hold off the swordsman, one of the clones ran through seals. **"Suiton: Shio no Handan!"** (Water Release: Tidal Judgment) Two massive waves of water that reached the top of the heightened ceiling towered on either side of the swordsman who looked at the two constructs with interest as they began to move towards each other at insane speeds, intent on squashing him in the middle.

Jinpachi smirked. "And boom goes the weasel!" he chanted before slamming Shibuki in the water below him. He managed to form a large enough wave from the impact that easily matched the approaching tidal waves with ease before the both cascaded back down in showers of water.

"Now that's not nice." Jinpachi scolded and looked towards the clone that had summoned the waves, wondering if it was the original. He pointed a hand out towards it with four of the fingers outstretched. **"Suiton: Rasen-jo Dangan!"** (Water Release: Spiraling Bullets.) Four small water bullets shot out of each finger heading towards the unfortunate clone.

Although they started out in straight lines, they began crossing each other's paths in a spiraling motion giving all four bullets the impression of a drill. They burrowed their way into the clone's body as it grunted in pain.

When the clone didn't dispel the others let out a laugh. "Is that the entire thing that that move does?" One clone asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, and you told us not to use weak moves." Another clone scolded cheekily.

They were silenced by an evil smirk from Jinpachi whose hand was raised and slowly counting down. "Three, two, one, Boom!"

The clone that had been pierced by the bullets then exploded violently as it was ripped apart from the inside. Each of the four bullets had rapidly expanded, taking up so much more space at such a small time.

The sudden blast had shocked one of the other clones and had caused it to lose its balance on the turbulent waters for a minute and it was quickly dispelled when a shark bit down on the exposed foot.

Jinpachi turned to look at the last two remaining bodies of Dekishi, wondering which between the two the real one was. "And then there were two." Jinpachi said in a sing song voice.

The real Dekishi had no time to warn his clone as a small wave behind it suddenly turned into a giant fist which propelled the unfortunate clone towards Jinpachi. The explosive swordsman was now in a baseball batter's stance as he awaited the clone that was heading straight for him in the air. "And it's a home run!" Jinpachi cried out when the Shibuki made contact with the clone. The clone was obliterated from the force of the blast.

When Dekishi saw his clone start flying towards Jinpachi, he knew it was over for that clone and decided to try and use the situation for the best. The water guardian quickly noted that Jinpachi looked very distracted as he readied for his home run hit. Not missing the opportunity, Dekishi swung one of his whips towards the swordsman as hard as he could.

Right after the shout of 'home run' the water whip had hit home and for a brief second, Dekishi thought he had managed to knock out or injure the swordsman. Shock hit his frame when the berserker he had hit transformed back into water. 'His water clone destroyed all of mine!' Dekishi thought nervously.

There was almost no warning. Dekishi had an inkling in his stomach as he spun around, only to see Jinpachi already mid swing in a blow that was sure to have impacted against his chest. It was almost as if the water itself rose to protect the water guardian as it rose up and compressed quickly, doing its best to shield Dekishi from the oncoming blast.

The explosion deafened the water guardian as he was hurtled back a long distance into the mist, barely registering the pain on his entire front. He managed to regain a little bit of his sense before he hit the water and did his best to ensure he never went below the surface of the water and groggily stared at the ferocious sharks that were hungrily roaming the blank water below.

With his ears still ringing from the deafening explosion, Dekishi stood up shakily and set his eyes on his brother panting next to him. "Moeru! Man you got beat up bad." Dekishi commented with a slight laugh.

The lightning guardian gave his brother a once over. "You don't look to good yourself."

The brothers then turned to the only swordsman currently in their presence. Kushimaru tilted his head to the side and gazed upon the pair curiously. "My my, some more toys to play with. Where did you come from?" Kushimaru asked while twirling the Nuibari threateningly.

Out of the thick mist, Jinpachi hen strolled out seemingly uncaring. "Oh hello Kushimaru." He greeted off handedly. "I seem to have lost something, have you seen it?"

"Depends on what you lost." Kushimaru replied in the same uncaring manner. "If you lost a half burnt, pitiful excuse of a water ninja, then yes, I think I have found him." The needle swordsman stopped twirling his Nuibari and used it to point at the form of Dekishi who was now standing next to his lightning brother.

"Their strong Moeru, we're getting beaten hands down and it's not like they're even trying." Dekishi scowled.

"I noticed that Dekishi!" Moeru scowled back. "And Orochimaru-sama didn't even allow us to use our second stage. If we did then maybe we would have a chance." The lightning guardian spat sourly.

"My my, so you little boys aren't going all out?" Kushimaru snickered.

"That's a good thing too, because we weren't going all out either. Nice warm up though." Jinpachi added, grinning widely and exposing his razor sharp teeth.

The brothers were shocked at this new information and unconsciously took a step back. "Now I get why they're legendary." Moeru said in a moment of surprise.

"Snap out of it Moeru! Let's switch targets; maybe you'll have better luck taking on Jinpachi than I did." Dekishi suggested hastily.

"Agreed. Kushimaru uses water and lightning just so you know." The lightning guardian replied. "Oh, and watch out for that sword, he managed to cut me without me noticing." He added.

"Jinpachi uses the water element very effectively Moeru, try to keep your distance and watch your back at all times. That sword hurts." The water guardian warned.

"Wait a minute. If you and I are facing these two, then Kyoufuu and Honou must be facing Zabuza!" Moeru declared happily. "When they finish him then they can come and help us here, four on two!"

Jinpachi raised his hand to stop their talks while Kushimaru snickered. "Do you really think that they can do anything against Zabuza? If I'm not mistaken, one of them is a fire user and he is in the worst probable place right now. There is also the fact that Zabuza can beat up both Kushimaru and I even if we work together against him. Hah! If I were you I'd start praying for your dead brothers!"

The two Swordsmen laughed menacingly at the brothers who began feeling nervous.

"Then we will help them instead!" Dekishi declared bravely as he charged Kushimaru while his brother went for Jinpachi.

"My my, someone still wants to play." Kushimaru laughed as he ducked under the whip that soared over his head and he jumped over the second whip.

"This is interesting." He added. "It's been a while since I last fought a whip user like yourself."

And with that, the needle swordsman sent Nuibari flying towards the water guardian who expertly leaned to the side just enough to evade the needle sword before lashing out again with the whip in his right hand.

The fight quickly became a long distance battle as the two masters of their weapons twirled and danced around each other's attacks. Using his twin water whips, Dekishi was able to start slowly cornering the swordsman. Since the whip was made almost entirely of his water chakra, it could bend to his will in normally impossible motions that denied the laws of physics when normally using whips. To keep it random, the water guardian also kept shortening and lengthening the length of each whip at different intervals.

"This is fun!" Kushimaru cackled, gracefully flowing around the deadly whips that flew around him at insane speeds. "My turn!"

That was the only warning Dekishi got before he was suddenly forced on the defensive. The Nuibari had come to life with electricity running through it and began speeding towards Dekishi repetitively at a dangerous rate. It was almost like Kushimaru was fencing with him, from thirty feet away. The lightning that coursed through the blade was making his hair stand on end from the few near misses that had already singed part of his skin.

Whereas before the twin water whips had been pressing an assault, now they were trying to force the needle swordsman to keep his distance away from the water guardian. Not that it helped much, since Kushimaru didn't seem to bother about distance.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) Kushimaru unleashed a massive sized lightning bolt from his mouth that released a blinding flash of blue light as it headed towards Dekishi.

Noting the power behind the attack, the water guardian decided to counter it with a powerful attack of his own. **"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet) The summoned water dragon roared to life once more and raced towards the incoming lightning bolt, intent on crashing against it head on.

The water dragon did accomplish its task to protect Dekishi from a direct hit, but the side effect was that the lightning bolt had torn through the water dragon's body and had entered the water around Dekishi's feet. The shock from the lightning stunned Dekishi for a moment, even from the reduced power of the original lightning bolt, and it was enough for his concentration to falter.

Only a very strong fear in his subconscious stopped him from dropping below the surface to become shark food.

 **"Raiton: Raikyu no Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage!) Kushimaru exclaimed loudly, firing high voltage balls of pure lightning at the downed water guardian.

Using the same quick escape method as he had done earlier, Dekishi created water clone that was quite some distance away before substituting with it to get him out of the compromising position he had found himself caught up in.

Trying to use the situation to his advantage while hoping that the swordsman was still distracted, Dekishi unleashed one of the more powerful attacks that were available to him in the first stage of his cursed seal. **"Suiton: Akuma Kushi Kasai!"** (Water Release: Demon Spit Fire)

The terrifying face of a demonic Oni appeared in front of Dekishi and it opened its gigantic mouth to spew terrifying amounts of highly condensed water at insane speeds towards the needle swordsman.

"Interesting." Kushimaru commented before launching his own counter attack.

Dekishi was fascinating by Kushimaru's next display of skill as the swordsman used Nuibari to successively pierce each and every single one of the oncoming projectiles. The lightning present around the Nuibari caused each mass of water that it connected with to violently disperse.

The swordsman continued his insane display of raw skill to slowly make its way towards the demon face while not allowing any single attack to bypass it until it reached its objective. Dekishi was forced to let go of his technique before the Nuibari made it to him and panted slightly.

He risked a quick glance to his side and could instantly tell that his brother was not faring well either. Getting ready for another confrontation with the needle swordsman, the water guardian grit his teeth harshly and summoned his water whips to his hands once again.

If Moeru thought his lightning attacks had been useless against Kushimaru, against Jinpachi it was even more so. Every single lightning attack available to him at his first stage of the cursed seal were all nullified by the exploding sword that Jinpachi seemed to be wielding carelessly.

 **"Raiton: Kuro Ikazuchi Netto!"** (Lightning Release: Black Lightning Net)

"What the heck is this giant net supposed to do?" Jinpachi asked mockingly before he swung Shibuki and blew it apart before it could get too close.

Moeru growled. "How about some of your partner's medicine then? **Raiton: Raikyu no Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage)

Jinpachi sounded even more amused. "I didn't know we were playing a game of tennis." He teased before proceeding to use insane speed, despite the size of Shibuki, to blow up every last lightning ball sent towards him. The black smoke caused by the explosions only added to the efficiency of the mist.

Moeru was grateful that he could still see his brother fighting nearby, even if said brother didn't seem to be doing too well. The explosive swordsman in front of him didn't even seem to be trying and Moeru started gathering chakra to his chest, ready to unleash a hopefully devastating attack.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari ka Fuka!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear Overloaded)

The lightning guardian forcefully quadrupled the normal power of the already powerful jutsu until he felt his lungs filled to their maximum capacity. Overloading a jutsu was usually a very risky move for the user as the chance of the jutsu backfiring was incredibly high. Moeru had found that out the hard way when he had first tried increasing the power of his lightning attacks and had almost killed himself at least twice before while experimenting.

Now however, he decided that it was worth the risk. He had somewhat mastered adding power to his jutsu and he needed as much firepower as possible to try and get the explosive swordsman somewhat injured.

The normally bright blue lightning bolt that shot from Moeru's mouth was now as wide as five grown men and was obsidian black that gave a loud screeching sound similar to a car hitting the brakes at three hundred miles an hour.

"Now we're talking!" Jinpachi yelled over the din as he raised Shibuki to block the deadly lightning bolt that seemed intent on killing him.

From the second the lightning jutsu connected with Shibuki there was a consecutive string of massive explosions that resulted back to back due to the stream of lightning in constant contact with Shibuki. It seemed almost as if someone had been constantly tossing explosive tags towards Jinpachi as he was surrounded by the large amount of black smoke that filled the area.

As suddenly as it started, it ended quickly and Jinpachi was momentarily blinded in the thick black smoke that surrounded him from all sides.

Seeing a chance, Moeru forced lightning chakra to his legs and blurred behind the swordsman with his lightning induced daggers crackling with electricity.

"It's over!" he yelled as he brought down his dagger on the back of Jinpachi's neck, loving the feel of his dagger slicing through something solid. _'One down!'_ Moeru thought to himself, breathing heavily.

The momentary relief was snatched away from the lightning guardian violently when the Jinpachi in front of him dispersed back into water.

"Water clone!" Moeru exclaimed in shock and fear. Thinking quickly he reinforced the lightning chakra around his back to produce makeshift armour that he hoped would hold against the assault on his back that was sure to come.

"Surprise!" Jinpachi laughed as he swung Shibuki on the unfortunate Moeru's back.

The lightning guardian was too slow to react and an explosion rocked his frame powerfully as the hit connected. The makeshift armour held up, just barely, but the lightning guardian was sent flying at a blurring speed.

The airborne guardian barreled painfully into Dekishi just before the water guardian was impaled once again by the Nuibari and they tumbled across the surface of the water using the best of their chakra control to stay above the surface.

Kushimaru turned to Jinpachi and growled. "You ruined my groove Jinpachi! Now I need to set a new one!"

Jinpachi laughed heartily as he strolled towards his fellow swordsman with Shibuki slung lazily over his shoulder. "Now don't be like that Kushimaru, we still get to have a little fun."

The two swordsmen then noticed the brothers standing side by side and running through separate hand seals at an incredibly fast rate.

"See what I mean? There's more fun for us right there and knowing these two, it's probably going to be another huge jutsu. They really don't believe in small moves being just as effective do they?" Jinpachi laughed as he dropped the sword from his shoulder to await the outcome of the collaboration jutsu that the brothers seemed to be planning.

He didn't have to wait long.

 **"Suiton: Kyodai Suiryuudan!"** (Water Release: Gigantic Water Dragon Bullet)

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari ka Fuka!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear Overloaded)

The water dragon that erupted was far from normal size now. Its head effortlessly burst through the ceiling causing debris to rain down to the shark infested waters below. Bright yellow rays of sunlight peered through from the ceiling partially illuminating the room below. The sunlight however did nothing to decrease the effectiveness of the mist that refused to leave the area.

The deafening roar that the water dragon released shook the walls of the room as it set its hungry gaze onto the two swordsmen below it.

It roared once again when black lightning coursed through the dragon's body, refusing to leave. The previously just enormous water dragon now had thick, black lightning crackling in and around it like some sort of deadly armour. Its yellow eyes now transformed into obsidian orbs to match the lightning that it now partially consisted off.

"My my, I guess you were right Jinpachi. That is a big jutsu. What were you saying about small jutsus being equally effective?" Kushimaru asked curiously.

"Don't be silly Kushimaru, you know I was being serious, but I don't think now is the time to try and prove that. **Suiton: Oukina Same Bakudan!"** (Water Release: Great Shark bomb) Jinpachi unleashed a giant shark made of water that swirled around both him and Kushimaru.

The needle swordsman put his hand into the restless shark that seemed to be floating in mid air before releasing his own jutsu. **"Raiton: Oukina Same Bakudan!"** (Lightning Release: Great Shark Bomb)

When its lightning counterpart was added to it, the already enormous shark doubled in size as pure blue lightning ran through its body.

As if by some hidden signal, both collaborative jutsu rushed each other only to meet head on in the middle where there was a colossal shockwave that pushed apart the water on the floor in a giant wave.

Smaller streaks of lightning and water sprayed apart from where the two enormous techniques clashed, apparently at a stalemate. The two jutsu each seemed to share a common goal, disperse the other jutsu by landing a powerful bite into the other's body.

That was much easier said than done.

"They're… they're matching our collaborative jutsu!" Moeru exclaimed in shock.

"At least all our hands are full, that means no more surprises." Dekishi sighed in relief as he further fueled their jutsu.

Moeru also shared his relief with his brother before they saw the Nuibari pierce the dragon through the mouth and throughout its body with glowing blue wire attached to it.

"What the…" Moeru started.

He was shut up when their massive dragon suddenly stiffened and silenced while the wire the Nuibari had inserted into the dragon was glowing brighter than ever.

"The Nuibari just made our jutsu useless…" Dekishi muttered in wide eyed disbelief.

As if noticing that his opponent was no longer struggling, the colossal shark stilled as it stared back at the immobilized water dragon.

The brothers then watched helplessly as Jinpachi ran across the water shark's back making his way to the head of the giant dragon.

"Get ready big boy 'cause this is gonna hurt!" Jinpachi yelled madly as he leapt off the shark's head towards the dragon's own.

Shibuki glowed red and time seemed to slow as the three spectators watched Jinpachi bring the explosive sword down on the unfortunate dragon's head. A massive boom resounded across the room as the explosion ran straight through the massive dragon in the form of consecutive explosions that ran across its entire body.

The dragon couldn't even roar before it was completely annihilated.

"What do we do now Dekishi?" Moeru asked, hope lost from his voice.

"I don't know Moeru. I don't know." The water guardian replied.

"We do!" Jinpachi interrupted happily from right behind the brothers.

Moeru and Dekishi whirled around in shock and horror but were too late to do anything else against the two swordsmen that had suddenly appeared behind them.

 **"Suiton: Suirou!"** (Water Release: Water Prison) The two swordsmen exclaimed in unison.

The water and lightning guardians found themselves suddenly encased in similar spheres of water where they quickly realized that they could not move at all.

"My my, looks like someone got caught." Kushimaru clucked disappointedly.

"Don't worry, we won't kill you." Jinpachi reassured. "Yet." He snickered evilly.

"But until then, you little boys can breathe, talk, hear and see what's going on out here." Kushimaru explained.

"Now let's go find out what happened to your brothers and Zabuza." Jinpachi said enthusiastically as they began walking into the mist to look for Zabuza.

"Who knows, maybe we'll find them in pieces or something." Kushimaru mused making Dekishi and Moeru pale slightly.

* * *

(With Zabuza, Kyoufuu and Honou)

"I hope you're ready to dance!" Zabuza yelled wildly as he blurred towards the two tense guardians.

Honou jumped to the right while Kyoufuu leapt to the left just as Zabuza cleaved through the space them were standing a second before.

Seeing an opportunity the two brothers whirled around to try and catch Zabuza while the swordsman was still recovering from his earlier momentum. The flames on Honou's staff blazed as they came streaking down for Zabuza's head while Kyoufuu tried his best to slash Zabuza through his side.

Despite the opportunity that had presented itself to the brothers, Zabuza grinned at how easy it was to deceive them. They were relative novices when it came to swordsmen it seemed.

The Demon of the Mist raised his leg and delivered a powerful kick to Kyoufuu's chest that sent the wind guardian stumbling before whirling around with the Kubikiri horizontally. If the blade continued on its path it was sure to lob Honou's head off.

Realizing the danger, the fire guardian adjusted his hold on the Bo staff and held it out vertically in front of him to intercept the incoming blade.

His staff creaked in protest when the Kubikiri slammed into it and he was sent skidding across the water, trying his best to gain a better foothold. The fire guardian was still skidding when Zabuza decided to carry on striking him with the gigantic sword he was swinging.

Honou ducked under another vicious cross aimed at his neck and hastily adjusted his grip on the Bo staff for close quarter's defense. Due to his new grip, the fire guardian managed to parry a few strikes but found that there next to no chance of him switching over to the offensive while Zabuza constantly swung strike after strike that all seemed to aim at cleaving through one of the eight points that he had mentioned earlier.

Ducking under another slash at his neck, Honou used the crouching position to whirl around and strike Zabuza's leg with the flaming staff.

The good news was that the strike connected, much to the fire guardian's shock. To his dismay however, it had no effect on the swordsman who was looking at the weapon curiously. Normally such a strike would have swept an opponent's feet out from underneath them or at least shattered the leg bone it came into contact with. Zabuza however didn't even flinch and his leg didn't even move slightly from the recoil of the blow.

"Is that it?" The Demon of the mist asked disbelievingly. "I didn't even feel that."

Honou was staring at his staff in the same disbelieving way that Zabuza was. Apart from slightly singed pants, Zabuza was perfectly fine. The fire guardian was distracted enough not to notice that Zabuza had already swung his attack towards Honou's head while the fire guardian was still in a crouched position.

Honou was snapped out of his dazed condition when he heard the distinct ring of metal next to his ear. Looking to the side, he noticed the Kubikiri's edge just inches away from his own head and he jumped away on instinct. It was only then that he noticed that the Kubikiri wasn't moving anymore. Looking to what had saved his life; he noticed Kyoufuu locked in another pushing competition with the Demon of the Mist.

Silently thanking his brother, Honou jumped back into the battle while charging chakra throughout his body. If his normal strength did not hurt Zabuza then he would have to amplify his strength.

Once again Zabuza was forced away from Kyoufuu as Honou came blazing down towards him. This time however, Honou did not release the momentary advantage and instead kept on trying to press it forward using successive thrusts and wide swings while flowing with the staff. If only he had listened to his dad to focus on mastering the staff instead of his fire jutsu then this fight would have been so much easier. Honou was mentally beating himself up for not listening to his father because at the moment his much prized fire jutsu was rendered almost absolutely useless.

The fire guardian forced those thoughts out of his head to focus solely on the task at hand. Honou was starting to feel the strain on his wrists from the fight that he was having with Zabuza. Even though the swordsman was being pushed back little by little, Zabuza was slowly regaining the advantage.

Honou was reassured about his positioning when Kyoufuu appeared beside him with his wind sword active. The wind guardian started moving in tandem with Kyoufuu's moves, complimenting his brother's staff style and covering any available openings.

In the midst of battle they heard Zabuza laugh. "Excellent! So you brats actually know how to fight!"

Zabuza then back flipped away from the duo to look at them challengingly. "You work well together with those weapons, but that doesn't mean fire brat is any more useful."

 **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire) Honou breathed out.

"Hm, stupid brat. **Suiton: Mizurappa!"** (Water Release: Raging Waves) Zabuza shot out a powerful stream of water from his mouth that instantly quelled the fire from Honou.

Throughout the exchange Kyoufuu remembered one vital thing that he and his brother had used to beat Dekishi in a fight once. They needed to use the move and get Zabuza by surprise the first time before he could adequately prepare for it. _'How to get Honou's attention silently?'_ The wind guardian mused.

The answer hit him when he looked at Honou's flaming staff. The wind guardian coughed slightly to get his brothers attention. When Honou looked at him, Kyoufuu touched his wind sword against the fire guardian's staff and the flames of the staff burned even brighter as they threatened to consume the wind sword.

Honou's eyes widened in realization and began running through hand seals. **"Katon: Karyuu Endan!"** (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet)

The fire guardian unleashed a massive dragon from his mouth that roared as it charged Zabuza.

Zabuza laughed. "You don't give up easily, do you brat?" Zabuza asked rhetorically as he set up a defense. **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)

The water around Zabuza erupted out to form a barricade in between Zabuza and the large fire technique. Due to experience, Zabuza leapt backwards to make some distance in between him and the water wall. He didn't believe the fire jutsu would pass through his water wall but it was always better to be sure and safe. It turned out to be a very wise decision.

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel) The wind guardian unleashed the massive tunneling jutsu directly behind the fire dragon, catching up to it in almost no time at all. The already massive dragon grew in size as its body began to rotate similar to the properties of the wind tunnel that it was now composed of.

 _'Damn it a collaboration Jutsu!'_ Zabuza mentally exclaimed as he made even more distance between him and the water wall which turned out to be useless against the enhanced power of the fire dragon as the flaming beast burst through the wall as if it wasn't there.

Zabuza was now alarmed and ran through his own hand seals to try another way of stopping the modified fire dragon that was headed his way. **"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet) Zabuza roared as his own dragon came to life. The newly formed water dragon rushed towards its fiery counterpart with its own mighty roar.

The modified fire dragon effortlessly tore through the inferior water dragon and carried on its original path towards Zabuza unimpeded. _'Water Jutsu can't stop a fire and wind Jutsu!'_ Zabuza noticed with alarm. He would have to watch out for that combination in the future. Left with no other choice and little time, Zabuza hefted the Kubikiri before launching it straight through the oncoming dragon as it spun at dizzying speeds like a shuriken.

The fire dragon was split in half in the wake of the Kubikiri and the dragon even looked briefly surprised for a moment before it dispersed back into nothingness. Zabuza raised his hand and the Kubikiri came flying back towards him until he caught it at the handle.

Unwilling to let them gain time for another large attack Zabuza started running towards the brothers while running through his own hand seals. **"Suiton: Akuma Kushi Kasai!"** (Water Release: Demon Spit Fire)

A large demon head appeared in front of Zabuza and began firing highly compacted masses of water towards the brothers who were now trying to think of a way to counter this new move. They were thinking on their feet and both hoped that the other knew what he was doing.

 **"Katon: Housenka!"** (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower) Honou spat out multiple bursts of fire, each one carefully aimed to target at least one of the incoming water projectiles.

 **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath) Kyoufuu complimented his brothers attack by forcing forward a large wall of fast moving wind that gave the fireballs the necessary firepower to stand a chance against the water projectiles.

Unlike with the two dragons however, the highly compacted water along with the wind and fire combination of fireballs was evenly balanced and cancelled each other out. The brothers however did not rejoice about managing to stop the water projectiles as they didn't stop Zabuza who was still charging towards them with his sword raised.

Somewhere in the room there was a powerful roar before a colossal shockwave that rocked the room. This sent Zabuza a little further off course as he tried to adjust to the new conditions brought by the mini Tsunami.

Zabuza recovered quickly enough and resumed his run towards the two guardians who had also been affected by the effects of the explosion.

 **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon's Breath) the fire guardian hastily blew out flames into Zabuza's path hoping to slow him down.

Once again, Kyoufuu decided to assist his brother. Their collaborative jutsus had a much higher rate of being successful anyway. **"Fuuton: Batsu no Sen Wareme!"** (A Thousand Gashes of Punishment) Completely invisible blades of wind, created by compressed air and sharpened edges, shot out towards Zabuza in a number that was too much to count. The wind blades passed through the dragon fire, igniting along the way making them extremely hot as well as sharp.

What the guardians witnessed next was a firsthand experience regarding the skills of the legendary swordsmen. Zabuza ducked, flipped, jumped and sidestepped in such fluent motions and grace that made it seem as if he was flowing around all the incoming blades of air that flew past him. There were also moments of extreme flexibility that he displayed when his body bent at unnatural positions to successfully dodge all the incoming projectiles.

The assaults ended and Zabuza had managed to get through unscathed. Not even one wind blade had nicked him! The Demon of the Mist charged forward, his momentum from earlier mostly intact. Out of nowhere there was another massive set of explosions from the other end of the room that seemed to slightly distract Zabuza who slowed down a little.

The two guardians however put the slowing Zabuza and the explosions in the back of their minds when they heard a jutsu being called behind them.

 **"Suiton: Oukina Same Bakudan!"** (Water Release: Great Shark Bomb) Two water clones of Zabuza yelled out in unison as the twin gigantic sharks each rushed to one of the guardians each.

 **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath) The wind guardian countered, blowing the shark out of the air with the mighty wind attack.

Honou didn't have as much luck as his brother when it came to dealing with the shark. The first reason being that the fire jutsu he used had next to no effect and the second reason was that at the last second the water shark had transformed into another water clone of Zabuza that had its hand outstretched towards him.

 **"Suiton: Suirou!"** (Water Release: Water Prison!) The clone chanted as it touched Honou, trapping the fire guardian in a heavily condensed sphere of water.

Kyoufuu noticed his brother's predicament but before he could move to assist he felt a strong tug on his feet from underneath himself and when the wind guardian looked down he noticed two water clones with strong grips on both his feet. Kyoufuu could have sworn they were grinning behind the bandages before the two water clones dragged him underwater.

At first he couldn't remember why it would be such a bad thing if he was dragged underwater and what the big deal was. That was, until, he noticed all the water sharks that were converging onto his position. The wind guardian had a lot of plans for the near future and becoming shark food was definitely not on his list.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath) He shouted underwater to try and solve the problem he had been introduced into. The jutsu was successful as it pushed away all the water the surrounded him and allowed him to touch dry ground for the first time in a while. The danger of the sharks had also been averted as they went away with the water that they needed to remain in.

In his relief the wind guardian forgot one important fact. The real Zabuza had been running towards him the entire time.

 **"Suiton: Suirou!"** (Water Release: Water Prison) the original Zabuza cried out triumphantly as he captured Kyoufuu in a highly compressed sphere.

With his opponent's subdued, Zabuza dispelled the mist and the small flood that he had called into the room. Due to the miniature flood, the room was mostly unscathed. The only damage that the room suffered seemed to be an enormous hole in the roof on the other side of the room where Kushimaru and Jinpachi were slowly walking towards Zabuza with similar water prisons in each hand.

"My my, Zabuza seems finished now." Kushimaru commented as he walked towards them.

Jinpachi did not seem satisfied. "Hey! I was expecting those two in pieces! Not in water prisons!" he growled out.

Zabuza cocked his head to the side. "The same could be said for you Jinpachi."

The three swordsmen were interrupted by an unnatural chuckling coming from the stone throne in the room. "Kukukuku. That was an interesting clash. You truly deserve your titles as legendary swordsmen." Orochimaru complimented them truthfully.

"Even though both parties weren't going all out." The Snake Sannin added.

The three swordsmen however, ignored whatever it was that Orochimaru was saying. They were each more interested at what the Snake Sannin was holding at sword point in front of them. Or rather, who Orochimaru was holding at sword point.

"Haku!" Zabuza cried out in despair.

The young girl swallowed nervously while on her knees in front of Orochimaru, the Kusanagi was inches away from her neck. Her wrists were bound in chakra sealing handcuffs which clearly explained why the young girl was helpless. "U-uncle Zabuza!" She stuttered.

The killing intent in the room shot up to almost unimaginable levels as the three swordsmen glared at Orochimaru. "Let her go!" Zabuza snarled in a rage.

He was not alone in that department. Jinpachi and Kushimaru had both handed over their respective water prisons and captives to water clones that cautiously moved away from the originals.

Jinpachi, Kushimaru and Zabuza all took up stances in front of the Snake Sannin with their swords all drawn and ready for action.

"I don't think that's very wise." Orochimaru sneered as he brought the Kusanagi closer to Haku's throat until the ice user could feel the cold metal against her skin.

"Don't you dare you snake!" Jinpachi growled. "Release Haku now!" he demanded angrily.

Orochimaru cackled before wagging a finger at the three enraged swordsmen. "The only time I will release this ice user, is if you agree to my terms. I'm sure I heard Dekishi discussing them with you, Jinpachi-kun."

Said swordsman seethed. "They want each of us three to receive some sort of seal from this snake here and they will return Haku safely as well as manpower and technology to aid us in Kiri." Jinpachi said through gritted teeth.

"That's all we have to do?" Kushimaru asked disbelievingly. After receiving a nod from Jinpachi, the needle swordsman turned to Orochimaru. "And what exactly does this seal do?"

"Kukukuku. I'm glad you asked. It's an experimental seal that I have been working on recently. It adds power to its user as well as grants a unique ability that I hope will function normally. I need you three because I need strong individuals to reduce the risks of this seal." Orochimaru explained with a wicked grin on his face that he didn't seem to be able to take off.

"What's the catch Orochimaru?" Zabuza asked fiercely. "There is always a catch to an offer like this, there is never such a simple way to power."

Orochimaru cackled. "Kukukuku. Ever so observant Zabuza-kun. You're right, there is a catch. Apparently even with my strongest test subjects, if the seal works then the individuals do not know how to harness the power it gives as none of them are warriors in any way making them almost completely useless. Another issue is that the survival rate is slightly above sixty six percent, meaning that there is a possibility that one of you will die."

The three swordsmen looked to each other unsurely.

Orochimaru decided to interrupt. "May I just ask you, is the ice user here worth it?" he asked teasingly.

Just like that the three swordsmen hardened their gaze and steeled their resolve. Haku was worth it. If they put aside the fact that they had sworn to protect the girl from any harm, then there was the fact that they now each saw the young girl as family. And they would die for family.

"Are those all the terms?" Zabuza looked to the Snake Sannin for confirmation.

Orochimaru put his spare hand to his chin as if in thought. "Actually, there is one more term that I want to add to that list." He said thoughtfully, making the trio tense in anticipation.

"I want to add a probation period to seal this deal and make my aiding the rebellion worth it. For six months I want you to follow my orders for whatever I wish." Orochimaru concluded.

The swordsmen protested vehemently. "That is too much Orochimaru! How can we agree to something like that!?" Jinpachi spat.

Orochimaru chuckled again. "If you're country isn't worth it, then is this little girl worth it?" he asked rhetorically, letting out his long tongue to lick Haku's cheek. The young ice user shied away and whimpered in disgust.

Zabuza bristled at the scene. "We agree to it, if we can add something to the terms as well."

Orochimaru looked interested as he tilted his head towards them. "Carry on."

"We will follow your orders, but we will do nothing that breaks the oath we took as warriors when we took up these swords." Zabuza offered.

Orochimaru sensed a trap. "And just how far does this oath extend? I need to know the limits of that oath you took."

Kushimaru snorted. "We won't do anything that we deem inhuman."

"That's it? If that's the case then I agree completely." Orochimaru nodded his head thoughtfully. _'Hm, this kind of restricts what I can do with them but this should suffice. If I can control them with the seal then it won't matter either way.'_ He mused silently.

"One more thing." Kushimaru called out.

"Yes, carry on." Orochimaru replied enthusiastically. This was just becoming even more interesting.

"You will leave Haku alone from now on and never risk harming her again." The needle swordsman clarified.

"What a noble offer. I am inclined to agree. Is that all now?" Orochimaru waved his arm dismissively.

"There is nothing more Orochimaru. We agree to all your terms." Zabuza stated calmly.

"No! Uncle don't agree to it!" Haku cried out. "I don't want any of you to die!"

Jinpachi smiled back at the girl. "Don't worry Haku, none of us are going to die." He reassured her.

"We don't want you to die either." Kushimaru added.

"I agree as well to this deal then." Orochimaru declared.

"Then it is settled. Can you give us Haku now?" Zabuza growled.

"Not so fast." Orochimaru grinned. "Let's swear in blood to honour this deal. I know this ritual as well and it will ensure that you three will never even think about betraying me while you serve me."

The three swordsmen seethed as they glared at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's grin didn't leave his face as he wiggled the Kusanagi near Haku's throat to clarify his point. This caused the swordsmen to share a look before each pulling out a kunai. With no hesitation they slit their hands and chanted the entire deal as the blood dripped to the floor.

"It is done Orochimaru." Zabuza declared.

"Excellent. Now all that's left is to receive your new cursed seals and your new orders." Orochimaru replied cheerfully.

"And return Haku." Jinpachi reminded the Snake Sannin with a growl.

"Oh yes! Here you go!" Orochimaru removed his blade from the threatening position, letting Haku move freely. He then grabbed the chakra sealing handcuffs and crushed them under his grip.

The ice user got up and ran straight for Zabuza and jumped into his arms as the Demon of the Mist caught her in a fatherly embrace, letting her cry in relief.

"Oh and if you don't mind, I would like my four guardians released as soon as possible." Orochimaru added as he set his gaze on the swordsmen's captives.

Upon realizing it, the swordsmen released both the water clones and the water prisons. This resulted in a slightly soggy floor and four drenched guardians. The four elemental guardians walked back to Orochimaru with their heads bowed slightly in defeat to the superior fighters.

"Are you ready to receive your seals now?" Orochimaru asked off handedly, seemingly uncaring.

Zabuza stood and pushed Haku behind him while Jinpachi and Kushimaru took their places on either side of Zabuza. Seeing that they were in place, Zabuza gave Orochimaru a nod to indicate that they were ready.

Orochimaru walked calmly over to the three swordsmen and created two shadow clones so that there were now three Orochimaru standing in front of the three swordsmen. "This might hurt." Orochimaru warned them.

 **"Genten Yuudou Fuin!"** (Origin Induction Seal) All three yelled at the same time as their necks stretched towards the necks of each swordsman before biting each one on the neck.

Zabuza, Jinpachi and Kushimaru all forced themselves not to flinch when Orochimaru stretched his neck and they all felt the blistering pain that followed as it stung their entire body. Despite the pain however, they each resisted and showed no signs of pain on the outside. They had felt much worse before.

Orochimaru could tell that the swordsmen were in pain, even if they didn't show it outright. He then began to laugh as they all remained standing impassively. The only sign he could see that they were in any sort of inner turmoil were small twitches here and there in random muscles.

Orochimaru then began to laugh. Each of them had all made it past the stage where the subject of the seal always died. The pain would die down in a few minutes at most.

"What's our first order Orochimaru?" Zabuza asked curiously as he flexed his arm and clenched his fist repetitively as feeling returned to them.

"I think I will only give you one order. For my successful aid for the rebels, I'm going to need money. Lots of it. One method that I have thought of is Gato the businessman who is currently in Wave Country. The fool is too rich for his own good and he still wants more. I want you to sign a contract under him for a large sum of money in exchange for your services. While you're with him however, do your best to steal as much money as you can indiscreetly. Bleed him dry and your campaign in Kiri becomes that much easier." Orochimaru ordered.

"That's it?" Jinpachi asked curiously as he swung Shibuki over his shoulder. The pain from receiving the cursed seal was virtually non-existent already.

"Yes, you can head there now. The more money you steal, the easier. Also try to activate the ability that comes with the cursed seal." Orochimaru replied.

"Well then, stealing isn't so bad. We can do this." Kushimaru finalized as they all turned to leave with Haku.

Zabuza however didn't turn to leave just yet as he was glaring at Orochimaru. "Remember, you will never touch Haku again or we WILL kill you." He threatened seriously as he focused killing intent on the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly and decided to test one feature of the cursed seal. This was the feature to apply pain to the subject's body by simple thoughts. He frowned when it didn't seem to work at all as Zabuza didn't even flinch. Taking it a little more seriously as Zabuza may have been resistant to pain Orochimaru gave the order to the seal to kill Zabuza. His frown deepened when Zabuza remained standing and glaring at him.

With no choice left, the Snake Sannin nodded as he decided that it would be in his best interests to leave the ice user alone.

Satisfied, Zabuza turned and walked out to follow his comrades and Haku. It seemed that they would be in Wave country for a while.

When the room cleared Orochimaru turned to the four guardians. "Now that you know how outclassed you are compared to some other shinobi in this world, I suggest you start training harder under your father when Osamu gets back. Don't give me the excuse that you couldn't use your second stages because those swordsmen weren't going all out either. You will train harder now because I will not have useless body guards. Understood?"

"Hai! Orochimaru-sama!" The four bowed in unison as they hurried out to look for their father.

Orochimaru sank back into his chair deep in thought. 'I think those swordsmen are powerful. Something must be wrong with that seal to not function properly. Now I can't control or test them. Only their honour is keeping them doing this for now.' He silently pondered.

The Snake Sannin sighed. "I guess I'll just spies to keep an eye on them and hope something happens during the next six months…"

* * *

 **And Done!**

 **This chapter was merely to get you all up to knowledge with what was happening with Zabuza and Orochimaru. Next chapter we're returning to Konoha and going from there.**

 **Please Review! And we hope you had a Happy New Year! And a save one at that!**


	10. Chapter 10: First Mission

Chapter 10: First Mission

* * *

 **KATSU: Can I just say that I am sorry for the wait? I got a little caught up in other activities, such as watching Fairy Tail and reading the manga. Blame TDDE for introducing it to me halfway through this chapter. I just got distracted.**

 **TDDE: Sure, blame me for showing you something that you were missing out on. I didn't hear you complaining about it though.**

 **To that one guest that left that review saying that he wouldn't read our story because we didn't have a disclaimer, I (KATSU) just want to say thank you, for a good laugh when I read that.**

 **KATSU: Dude, I would like to thank you and that one other anonymous reader for reviewing every single chapter. We would appreciate it though if you could make an account so that we can PM our answers to your questions since we can't fit most of our answers in this review part.**

 **TDDE: Why are you all begging for spoilers? Do you all want to lose that moment of shock and awe? Now there's no Review Time this chapter...I'm just gonna drink my juice and cry myself to sleep *sniff***

 **KATSU: Uh...since he's busy at the moment, how does he start his chapters?**

 **Darkeron: *Hands him the script***

 **KATSU: Right, thanks. Let the party begin!**

 **Krimson: That was horrible...what the Hell are you doing?**

 **KATSU: Zip it Red, I ain't your boss!**

* * *

(One Month Later)

"Yatta! Finally its mission time 'ttebayo!" Naruto yelled out excitedly as Team Seven slowly made their way to the hokage tower to receive their first mission.

Kakashi looked back towards his bickering team and smiled proudly. They had all come a long way in the past month that they had been training. The one eyed Jonin would admit that he may have been borderline insane regarding the four young genin's training, but who could argue with results? Although starting at six in the morning and ending at six in the evening with only a short break for lunch was probably already insane. Even after their training, the masked jonin would persuade them to look up other shinobi practices o further develop their skills in different departments.

His training plan had been, in his opinion, very straightforward. For the first ten days, Kakashi made sure to bring up both their chakra capacity and chakra control as well as develop their own individual Taijutsu. Of course, he couldn't really develop Naruto's chakra capacity much further and the cube inside him easily helped the blond boy regarding his chakra control, but he tried to anyhow.

The next ten days were spent with team seven trying to master some jutsus related to their elements as well as learning when to use them. Tenten and Sakura struggled a little but due to the chakra control and chakra building exercises of the previous ten days they managed to perform quite well. Sasuke took to his fire and lightning jutsus like a fish to water and managed to easily master fifteen jutsus of each element. Kakashi had the most fun however, with Naruto.

Due to the blond boy's enormous chakra amount and shadow clone abilities along with affinities for four elements, Kakashi could teach multiple groups of shadow clones different jutsus at any given time. This way he managed to teach Naruto faster, with greater quality and allowed Naruto to master many more jutsus than he should have in the given time.

The last ten days of the month were spent running through team exercises and team procedures that applied to different situations. This training was meant to develop their overall compatibility and efficiency as a team with or without Kakashi. They had managed to get it up to the point where team formations and commands could be given from almost undetectable signals given by Naruto, who the members of team seven looked at as a leader when Kakashi wasn't around.

After the month had finished, team seven was due to take on an examination, authorized by the hokage, which would decide whether or not they were fit for C-rank missions already. C-ranks were generally escort missions or message carrying missions where the greatest threat expected was non-ninja bandits.

The test itself would consist of four parts: The Taijutsu portion, The Weapons Proficiency portion, The Ninjutsu potion and the overall Team effectiveness portion.

Genjutsu would have been made part of the exam but was deemed unnecessary since Sakura already had more than enough experience to recognize even the more subtle forms of genjutsu while the two boys had doujutsu that made them basically immune to genjutsu. Tenten was of no risk as Naruto had made it a habit to send out small chakra pulses every now and again to sense anyone in the vicinity as well as disrupt any nearby genjutsu. It had become a habit right after his first date with Hinata.

The two examiners for the exam had been a very enthusiastic Gai Maito and a very unfortunate Asuma Sarutobi. Gai had overseen the Taijutsu portion alone but was later joined by Asuma in all the successive exams.

For the first exam, Gai had rated Tenten and Sakura at mid chunin in Taijutsu since they were relatively fast and strong but lacked any distinctive style for themselves. This was something that Gai had kindly pointed out and even offered a few sessions with the girls to assist them in finding the styles that suited them best.

The spandex clad man was surprised by Sasuke however, as the young Uchiha had proven to be a formidable opponent that was already greatly skilled in the Uchiha Interceptor Fist. At first Gai had rated Sasuke's Taijutsu skills at very high chunin before the said Uchiha activated his sharingan as well as a little development that Sasuke had added. This was to coat his fists in flames which, for some reason, added a great deal of strength behind each hit. Gai was forced to reconsider his opinion and rated Sasuke as low jonin in Taijutsu.

Naruto's test however had Gai on his feet on edge. The jonin had next to no idea on how to counter Naruto's Uzumaki Flowing Fist style of Taijutsu. The main reason for this was that the Taijutsu master could find next to no pattern in the blond boy's movements. The only consistency was that the boy moved gently and seemed to be flowing in air. Gai quickly realized not to underestimate the style just because the body seemed to be moving smoothly, each hit hurt like hell. Gai also noticed that each limb seemed to be moving independently of each other and this resulted in a very unpredictable style that left next to no openings to counter. There was also the fact that the style still held the same unpredictability and danger when Naruto transformed into one of his gigantic transformer forms. The blond boy had been rated in between low to middle jonin.

The weapons test was far more eventful however. Asuma had decided to test the two girls in a weapons spar to one side and was pleased to know that Sakura at least knew how to use a dagger to protect herself and a bow and arrow to support her team from afar while simultaneously casting genjutsu. The ninja guardian however was speechless when Tenten displayed her own weaponry skills. The bearded jonin found himself to be very hard pressed during his match and was even forced to apply wind chakra to his trench knives in order to avoid some… more lethal… injuries to his person.

Gai wasn't faring much better in his own assessment of the boys. Normally, he only brought out his twin nun chucks in a battle where he couldn't win in Taijutsu. And there were very few people who could push him to do that. Right now however, he figured out immediately that a mere bo staff would not suffice. That was partially because it was impractical against a ninjato, twin daggers and a massive mace and that was also partially because the bo staff had almost been sliced into ribbons before it shattered under the might of the mace.

Gai noticed that Sasuke specialized in close quarters combat with a family ninjato that belonged to the Uchiha and had a bright red raven symbol engraved into the blade. Said blade was obsidian black yet glinted dangerously in the light.

Naruto was holding his shorter daggers in a reverse grip and, to Gai's horror, followed the exact same movements as the Uzumaki Flowing Fist style that Naruto had used earlier on in the Taijutsu practice. The only difference now was that there were crimson red daggers in each hand and there was a recipe for disaster. Oh, and Barricade was comfortable with just swinging the mace around.

After the weapons exam, Asuma and Gai both cleared the entire team as fit for armed combat and it was time for the Ninjutsu portion. It was a nightmare for both jonin as they came under an onslaught of Jutsu from each element. Added to the fact that Naruto could utilize many jutsu capable clones and it became a literal hell for the jonin. Asuma and Gai's fire affinities were neutralized and were at times to risky to use as they regularly backfired under some of Naruto's stronger wind attacks and Asuma was not given much space for his larger wind techniques. Gai's earth affinities were only good for temporary defense in the end and it proved to be a welcome shelter and much needed relief from the non tiring 'genin' that were assaulting them.

After that exercise the jonin duo had aptly named Naruto a Jutsu monster. Partially due to the uncountable amount of jutsus he threw around and partially because of the fact that when in his transformed state, his jutsus became overloaded with power. Once or twice Asuma was convinced that a meteorite was going to squash them flat before he managed to slice it in half or redirect it.

At this point the two jonin had all but passed the genin and had long since deemed them capable of the 'challenging' C-ranks that they would soon be performing.

Kakashi on the other hand was far from done. The masked Jonin had waited the ENTIRE month just to shove his Genin into his comrade's faces. He remembered every single jab they had made towards his pride clear as day and it was time for payback. Beaten by his own Genin? Let them have a taste of it as well! The one eyed Jonin then reminded them of the last examination regarding team dynamics where every skill available to the genin was open for use.

The completely demolished training ground afterwards was another testament to the destructive prowess of team seven. As well as the worn out jonin that muttered their apologies to Kakashi, in Gai's case however the green spandex clad man embraced Kakashi in a bear hug while crying about Kakashi's youthful team.

Hiruzen had instructed Danzo to oversee the event himself to ascertain whether Team Seven would deserve the rank they were given and if they were really and truly ready for their class of missions. The bandaged elder had congratulated the team and Kakashi before informing them to head to the hokage tower the following day to receive their first mission.

Gai was perfectly fine with the results of the spar, if anything the green beast was even more enthusiastic to train harder the following day. His partner however was not faring as well. Unlike Gai, Asuma was not immune to embarrassment. Especially the type of embarrassment that came from peers and students watching their sensei fail against much less experienced opponents. The bearded Jonin couldn't even bring himself to look Kurenai in the eye.

The other members of the rookie sixteen were amazed by their peer's apparent outstanding progress. It served as an encouragement for the future and they would all be determined to at least catch up.

That night, Kakashi had been in such a good mood that the masked Jonin had brought the entire rookie sixteen and their respective sensei to the Flaming Leaf for a massive dinner that he had paid for entirely. Word had already spread around the village of the prodigal team seven by then. The only fact they got wrong was the knowledge that the masked boy in orange was named 'Arata Uchiha' and not Naruto Uzumaki. Not that Team Seven minded. As far as they were concerned, the village did not discriminate against the boy known as Arata Uchiha and Naruto was more than happy to go by his alias.

The Flaming Leaf had unofficially labeled 'Arata Uchiha' their best customer ever since his first date with Hinata to the restaurant around a month ago. They had remodeled their menu to fit the 'Uchiha's' tastes and all the new or edited menus were best sellers. This was something which the restaurant was very grateful for. The only thing that Kakashi hadn't anticipated that night was Chouji's appetite…

Kakashi put his thoughts back to his team and began reviewing their individual improvement.

In the month that she had been training, Sakura had managed to improve almost all aspects of herself and her determination to do so was to try and prove her use on the team. With her high chakra control, the pink haired girl's grasp on medical jutsu had increased up till the point where she could reset broken bones if given enough time as well as improve her genjutsu by making them more complex, inventive and that much harder to break out of.

Kakashi had also drilled it into her that she desperately needed to improve her physical tolerance and Taijutsu as a means of self defense should she ever be separated from her team and the masked jonin had also indirectly increased her puny chakra capacity to that of mid chunin. With all the work they had been doing and the fact that she was no longer trying as hard to impress Sasuke after their 'talk' convinced Sakura that dieting was going to easily hinder her and possibly get her killed. Imagine her delight when despite the extra influx of food, her body remained as slim as ever.

The pink haired girl had also decided that long hair was very impractical in the life of shinobi, proven when Kakashi had held her hostage in a spar by gripping her hair, and traded it for a shorter and more convenient haircut. After her untimely haircut, Sakura also put into perspective how her other team members were dressed and noted that they all wore dark colors and had their faces mostly obscured from view by mask, hood or even both. Taking note of this, Sakura had isolated Tenten after one grueling training session and the two females of Team Seven had gone shopping for new attires that fit in with their team.

They wanted their new attires to mostly conceal their bodies from view and have darker colours to give team seven a sense of unity but also have their own individual blends to make them easier to distinguish. Kakashi had blue sleeves, Sasuke had dark red ones and Naruto's consisted of a dark orange. Tenten picked a dark purple colour to highlight the black while Sakura picked a dark violet. Both outfits were similar to their male counterparts in a way but without the masks, the girls felt that the hoods would suffice to hide their hair and faces.

During the month Tenten had also added variety to her arsenal. Upon showing her interest, Naruto's aunt Yugiri had decided to include Tenten while she tutored her own children and Naruto himself regarding seals. Ever since then, Tenten had been experimenting with the great many uses that she could find for the seals and how they would help her weapons. The bun haired girl had discovered almost purely by accident how she could make some of her weapons unleash hidden scores of kunai. For example her mace, no one would expect storage seals on a mace to launch a storm of kunai now would they? Nor would they expect a mace to expand to a size fit for a giant but have Tenten swing it around as if it weighed nothing. All accomplished with the simple use of Growth and Shrink seals working antagonistically along with gravity seals.

The bun haired girl had also taken to sealing her weapons on her arms so that they would always be present at a moment's notice. Her reasoning was that she wouldn't need to carry her massive scrolls all around the place and to have a trump card that the enemy wouldn't expect. She was literally a walking armory. Combine that with her fire Jutsu and Tenten was now admittedly a force to be reckoned with.

However, despite the progress made by the two females of the group, Kakashi couldn't help but appreciate the boys and their progress even more. Sasuke and Naruto had both been taught on how not to rely on their respective doujutsu in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu but they could still hold their own against Kakashi. This made sure, that when they did activate the Sharingan and Tsuihogan, that they were much more effective and deadly.

Sasuke's Uchiha Interceptor Fist was top notch already and with the speed and strength that the young boy was developing made it exceptional, even among Uchiha. The raven haired boy was also picking up tricks from his relatives, namely making a Kawarimi (substitution) with countless objects directly one after another making it seem as if he was teleporting about the place, his Sharingan helping him lock onto objects to substitute with. However the most annoying skill he had gained, in Kakashi's opinion, was the small genjutsu he picked up from Itachi to cover his Kawarimi, this was the ability to disperse into a murder of crows that cawed loudly as they flew away in different directions.

Sasuke also took to fire and lightning Jutsus like a fish took to water. He managed to master a good fifteen jutsu of each element that Kakashi had shown him and he was using them effectively in battle simulations already. The young Uchiha also made sure to use small genjutsus in almost every move he made, effectively confusing his opponents who were already bewildered enough by Sakura, something which Kakashi was unsure to be proud about or annoyed at.

Last but not least was Naruto's phenomenal improvement. With the aid of Shadow Clones, Kakashi found it simple to tutor the boy in all four elements that Naruto possessed and with the guests in Naruto's mind to filter out the memories, the blond boy received no backlash from the amount of memories that barged in at the end of the day.

The Uzumaki Flowing Fist was no joke either. While the majority of Naruto's clones were training with Kakashi and his team a small percentage of them would be under the tutelage of the Uzumaki bodyguards that had accompanied his aunt Yugiri to Konoha. Since the five adult Uzumaki were only in Konoha originally just to check up on Naruto, they were only guests in Konoha and thus did not participate in any of the Shinobi activities of the village and had since then opened up a small flower shop that easily became competition for the Yamanaka flower shop in Konoha.

The concept of the Uzumaki Flowing Fist was rather simple but very difficult to even hope of copying without years of practice. To someone who was not aware of the style it would look like each limb was moving randomly in a fluid motion that never stopped. The stance was deceptively gentle but each hit landed with the force of truck. Kakashi could easily attest to that fact since he was mostly on the receiving end of the brutal style. The user would always seem very calm in the flowing stance, as if relaxing while each limb seemed to move independently of each other. One other boon to the style was that the user could grasp most weapons in their hands and follow the exact same stance of the Uzumaki Flowing Fist and be just fine. Kakashi's biggest concern regarding the style however was how well it worked even for Naruto's gigantic transformer forms.

With how powerful his own team was becoming, the one eyed Jonin had forced himself to get over his temporary grief regarding his own deceased team members and had thrown himself into some harsh training of his own alongside his students. He would make sure that they would never beat him again, even if they were all a team of four. The first loss had been more than enough to make him realize that he had been slacking ever since he had stepped down from being an ANBU captain. He was proud to say that he was now better than he had ever been before and if his team couldn't handle a measly C-rank then he would be damned!

The masked Jonin was put out of his musings by the sudden appearance of the hokage door in front of him. With one last look at the four genin following him, Kakashi took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Enter." They heard the elderly voice call out from behind the door.

After receiving permission Kakashi opened the door gently so as not to startle any of the ninja that may have been present in the room. Startling a shinobi of any stature was often a very bad idea.

"Team Seven reporting for a C-rank mission Hokage-sama." Kakashi stated upon entry as he took in the other occupants of the room.

After the three elders and Hiruzen had finally began working together efficiently and without any secrets a few years ago, the three of them had been given permission to set up their own desks next to Hiruzen in the hokage office where they worked as a unified team regarding all shinobi matters.

The peaceful third hokage still didn't fully agree with Danzo's harsher methods. However both of the experienced shinobi had finally accepted the fact that there were no plain black and white decisions to choose from and they eventually reached a compromise where their decisions were considered grey. In other words they listened to each other's advice and took the pros and cons into account before making a decision.

The other two elders, Koharu and Homura, decided not to meddle with both of the seasoned warriors and instead had resorted to doing the majority of the paperwork regarding the civilian sector of the village. After their first four weeks with Hiruzen checking their decisions, the hokage trusted them enough to handle that side of the paperwork on their own. This effectively split the massive pile of paperwork between all four shinobi giving them a less stressful time.

"Ahh, hello there Kakashi." Hiruzen greeted as he leaned back in his chair to take a small break from the still incredibly large pile of paperwork. _'Where on earth does all this blasted paperwork come from!?'_ he growled in his head. _'There's already four of us working on it and it isn't even going down!'_ The Sandaime ranted to himself.

"Do you already have a mission set for us?" Kakashi asked politely. It was standard ninja protocol to show respect to your seniors, both literally and figuratively.

"Of course I do Kakashi. But may I ask if your team is prepared to head out on a mission? C-ranks can go on for untold amounts of time and are usually lengthy missions. Team Seven doesn't look like they are carrying anything on their person right now." The old man said sounding disappointed.

As if on cue, every member of the team summoned a weapon of their choice from the seals on their wrist as well as storage scrolls also sealed into their wrists.

Kakashi gave the Hokage a proud eye smile. "Please do not worry Hokage-sama. My team have their own method of always being prepared. They have everything they need sealed somewhere on them. They even seal storage scrolls!" Kakashi reassured.

"Well then, I guess you are ready for your mission then." The Sandaime replied as he tossed the masked Jonin a scroll. "I believe I must congratulate you with your team's recent achievements by the way." He added as Team Seven resealed their respective equipment.

Kakashi gave the Hokage an eye smile once again before opening the scroll. All of a sudden the masked Jonin lost his entire cheery demeanor to one of a man who looked like he had just been insulted gravely, a frown solidly plastered across his features. The white haired man turned the scroll back to the hokage and pointed at the heading which stated 'Tora retrieval' in large kanji. "This is strictly for D-ranks hokage-sama. I am sorry but I wish to accept a mission related to that damned cat." Kakashi spoke in a strained voice.

Behind him the four genin paled. They had heard more than enough about the 'Demon Cat' that was the bane of every genin's existence. Seeing Kiba covered in deep scratch marks cemented that fact into their minds and they had been silently thankful to being promoted straight for C-ranks. And then they were receiving that same mission!

Before the jonin in front of him could blow up Hiruzen chuckled and raised a hand kindly. "Before you go berserk Kakashi, please take the time to actually read the scroll."

Reluctantly the masked jonin turned his attention back to the scroll in his hand to read the entire mission briefing. The four genin watched as Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief before giving another eye smile to the Hokage. "Okay hokage-sama. Team seven accepts the mission of Tora retrieval."

The four Genin slumped in disbelief at the information.

Noticing his Genin's moods, Kakashi decided to inform them of the mission as well. "Now now, don't get your faces stuck in the mud. The mission isn't actually that bad. True, it is a Tora Retrieval mission. But this time we aren't retrieving a runaway Tora this time." The masked jonin started.

When he saw his team's interests peaked Kakashi continued. "Apparently in the middle of running away from the Daimyo's wife a little after he was captured again, the stupid cat got captured by some bandits that are demanding a ransom for the cat. Apparently we have been requested to retrieve the cat without the use of the ransom money. The bandits said to meet at a cave a few hours away from Konoha."

"Thank Kami!" Tenten breathed out in a relieved fashion, a sentiment that was shared by her team.

"Don't worry old man, we're going to ace our first mission 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he gave the hokage a wide grin.

The Sandaime chuckled at the antics of the young blond boy as they turned away to leave. "Sure you will Naruto, sure you will." He encouraged gently. "Dismissed."

As the team turned back to exit the door, two chunin entered the room with a stack of paperwork in each of their arms. Next to the Hokage, Homura and Koharu both groaned audibly and turning to Danzo, Hiruzen clearly saw Danzo frown as the bandaged man glared at the steadily increasing amount of paperwork making its way towards them. "Damn paperwork! There are already four of us here and there's still too much!" Hiruzen scowled as he put down his pipe harshly and pulled up the sleeves of his robe in preparation to do battle with the paperwork.

Naruto turned his head curiously to the hokage. "Gramps, you mean only four of you work on all that paperwork?" the blond boy asked disbelievingly.

Hiruzen was already furiously scribbling along with his elders and Danzo as he replied, not looking up from his table. "Yes, is there something wrong with that?"

"Yes, I mean, how come there only four of you doing the paperwork when you can all make Shadow Clones?" he asked innocently, not knowing the implications of that statement. "Surely each of you can make at least five or ten."

All three elders and the Hokage himself almost completely froze on the spot with that unexpected revelation, from a child that was decades younger than them no less. Unknown to them, it wasn't really Naruto's idea. Rather it was the result of a rather sarcastic Barricade commenting about the observation from within the boy's mindscape.

All four of the highest ranking officials in the village face palmed, literally after sharing a look with each other. "Damn it! No wonder Minato finished his paperwork so fast! Sneaky devil didn't share his secret!" Hiruzen growled out.

"I am more surprised that we did not figure that out for ourselves." Danzo reluctantly admitted.

"You are a genius Naruto, good luck with your mission." Koharu acknowledged the boy.

"A genius indeed." Homura agreed as he created eight clones of himself that each took to the paperwork as the original left his position to head to a tea table at the centre of the room. He was joined not a moment later by his three elderly comrades who had each made their own clones.

Kakashi's lone eye was wide open in shock as he watched the proceedings. It was still wide open when he turned to follow his team on the way out. The masked jonin then placed his hand on to a beaming Naruto's shoulder as he led the boy out of the office. "Good job Naruto, being observant is a very important skill for a shinobi.

Kakashi couldn't hear Barricade and the Kyubi both snort inside Naruto's mindscape.

Tenten pouted and crossed her arms. "No fair Kakashi-sensei! We're observant too!" She grumbled.

The masked Jonin chuckled and placed a hand on Tenten's head causing the bun haired girl to look up. "Ma ma Tenten, don't be like that. You know how Naruto is, he needs constant encouragement or he won't get anywhere." Kakashi joked.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled out accusingly. "I'm not like that!"

Both Sakura and Tenten giggled a little at their blond teammate's antics.

Kakashi then suddenly shifted to a more serious attitude when he remembered something and he called for the group to stop walking once they exited the hokage tower. After looking around for a bit the jonin noticed a bench and ordered all of his genin to take a seat.

"What is this about Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked curiously. Normally Kakashi was only serious when he was busy teaching them something. Surely they wouldn't be having a lesson in public right in front of the hokage tower?

"I have something to tell you. You can think of it as a lesson of sorts." Kakashi replied as he looked at each genin through his sole eye.

Sasuke mentally face palmed. _'Then again maybe not. Of course he'd have a lesson for us.'_ The raven haired boy scolded himself silently.

"You may think that what I am about to tell you is not that important, but believe me, it is." Kakashi started once he saw that his genin had settled down to listen.

"This is about the fact that during this mission you may be forced to have your first kill. I know that we are only going up against bandits, but get this into your heads. Every single time you step out of those walls, anything can happen. Anything. You could just be heading to the nearest town a few miles away and still get attacked by Missing Nin, or abducted by another village, or even accidentally kick start the next war! I may be getting a little off track but that is another point to learn today. Expect the unexpected and always look underneath the underneath. Life as a shinobi is far too dangerous and too full of risks. Never ever think that you are safe and that nothing wrong can happen." Kakashi lectured in a stern voice as he stood ramrod straight with authority in front of the genin.

"Now, I'm going back to the subject. The first kill will always be the hardest. You can never practice for the time when you take away another human being's life. You can never be prepared. Even if you've trained fifty years on how to kill, the first time you kill will be burned into your memories forever. You will remember everything, every little detail. From the weapon or jutsu you used, to the sounds you heard, and finally to the body of whoever you may have killed. Many shinobi have already quit this profession just because of the horror of the first kill. The most dangerous thing about someone's first kill however, is the fact that it can cause you to freeze up no matter what situation. If you freeze up like that in the middle of a battle then it can cost you your life and can also put your comrades in danger." Kakashi paused he studied the variety of emotions that were running through his genin's faces. They ranged from fear, horror, and determination. Kakashi was proud when he saw the last one, at least they would try not to put their friends in danger.

"If by some unfortunate event that you are forced to take someone's life this mission, remind yourselves why you took that person's life. Were they attacking you? Were you protecting someone or something? Were you doing it to prevent something bad from happening in the future? Just remember that as long as you remember that you killed that person for a good cause and that there was no other way to resolve the issue, then you did the right thing. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not telling you to enjoy killing or carry on killing anyone when they seem like a threat. Only kill when you absolutely have to, and you never have to like it. It is a dark part of this profession; ninja aren't only those who know big, flashy Jutsu. We are the ones that do what has to be done. Follow the mission given to your best ability, but remember that the lives of your comrades are much more important than any mission we are given. If the only way to save others was to sacrifice yourself, would you do so? What if a comrade that was sacrificing himself wished for you to get away, that he was sacrificing himself to save your life? Would you honour his request or will you stay firm and remain with him? There is no right or wrong answer here. You do what you think is right, no matter how much you may hate it." Kakashi sighed as he finished his lecture.

He then turned to his genin who had just absorbed the information that he had given them. The masked jonin hadn't wanted to destroy their view of the shinobi life, but he had to do so if he wanted to make sure that they remained safe. To him their safety mattered much more than their innocence.

"Thank you for warning us Kakashi-sensei, but will we really need to go through all of that?" Sakura asked a little timidly. That short lecture had been a huge mind opener.

"I feel a little uncomfortable about being a shinobi now." Tenten admitted before looking up at Kakashi. "But that won't stop me from being a shinobi. I want to be able to protect my friends on this team, even if they don't need it." The bun haired girl stated confidently.

Kakashi smiled when he saw how that statement brought back Sakura's determination before turning to the two masked boys whom he assumed were smirking underneath their masks.

"Hn, as if an Uchiha would quit the job because such a issue. I admit it might be bad and I may be scared, but there is no fear that can't be overcome." Sasuke said boldly with his arms crossed.

Naruto copied his brother's stance almost precisely. "The Uzumaki won't back down from anything either 'ttebayo!"

"Well then you brave little runts, let's head out on our first mission." Kakashi announced as he began walking towards the front gate of Konoha. "Once we're out of the gate, we take to the tree tops. Now hurry up, we have a few hours of running to do. Those bandits made sure to be quite a distance away from Konoha."

A chorus of "Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" rang out as Team seven started their first mission.

* * *

(Unknown location)

After a few hours of tree hopping, Kakashi caught sight of a nearby small valley that was roughly half the size of Konoha and raised his hand to signal his team to stop. The small valley was on the map they had been given but the bandits hadn't given an exact place to be met, this told him they were already close to wherever the bandits were hiding with the cat they held hostage as well as the fact that the bandits were at least smart enough not to give away their position that easily.

"Naruto." Kakashi called out to his blonde student who perked up at hearing his name.

"Hai Kakashi-sensei." He responded. "What do you need me to do?" The blonde boy asked quietly. They were in full mission mode at the moment.

"Transform into your small robot and climb up a high tree. Record your surroundings on one of your hologram discs so we can review it. We will wait here." The masked jonin ordered.

"No problem Kakashi-sensei, but for future reference please call the 'small robot' Frenzy so I can quickly determine which robot you are referring to." Naruto replied before transforming into the small black robot. Said robot gave off a small squeak before scampering up higher into the gigantic trees.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked out quietly.

"Hmm?" Kakashi replied, still looking up where the small robot had gone.

"I was just wondering, Arashi said that all Uzumaki males can activate the Celestial Gates as part of their Bloodline. So can Naruto open his? Because I've never seen him use them but I've seen Arashi before and he gains a large amount of speed and power. You can also see chakra because it becomes visible outside them." Sakura explained as she pondered on this fact.

She was not alone in that thought as Tenten had been thinking along very similar lines.

Sasuke and Kakashi shared a quick glance as they both knew every detail about the reason why Naruto didn't use his Celestial Gates, they just didn't know how to properly phrase the sentence without revealing everything.

Out of view of the two kunoichi, both sharingan users were making ANBU hand signals furiously to communicate.

 _'You explain it, you were actually there!'_ Kakashi signed.

 _'You're the older one and the sensei, therefore you should do it,'_ Sasuke signed back.

 _'But I don't know how too!'_ Kakashi protested silently.

 _'Then that's your problem. I'm not doing it,'_ Sasuke signed while smirking under his mask. When he finished, the Uchiha turned his back to his sensei to signify that the conversation was over.

"Do you know Kakashi-sensei?" Tenten asked a little more impatiently.

The masked jonin's mind quickly ran through its options before finally coming up with a possible and believable theory. "Well, it's because Naruto is only half Uzumaki. Don't get me wrong because even half Uzumaki can use the Uzumaki bloodlines effectively, it's just that Naruto's mother had a… bloodline… of sorts other than the traditional Uzumaki that she passed down to Naruto and it reacts with his father's bloodline so they make him unable to use the Celestial Gates." Kakashi explained. It was technically a half truth, since he wasn't lying for the most part, just using the wrong words.

 _'If you can call the Kyubi from Kushina and the Eight Points seal on Naruto from his father bloodlines.'_ Kakashi mentally scoffed at himself. Luckily, the girls bought it and seemed to misunderstand.

"So you're saying that either Naruto's mother or father had the ability to turn into giant robots?" Sakura comprehended from what Kakashi had said.

The white haired jonin merely nodded.

"Then what was the other bloodline that reacts with the robot one?" Tenten probed further.

Kakashi sighed. "It was his mother's Demon Release that merged with his father's Robot Release. With these two Bloodlines currently in Naruto, they are not compatible with the Celestial Gates."

The girls went wide eyed. "What's a Demon Release Kakashi sensei? I've never heard of it before. Actually I've never even heard of Naruto's Robot Release before I met Whisker-kun." Tenten mused out loud.

Sasuke face palmed into his hand. "Oh Kami Kakashi-sensei! Now how are you going to get out of this?"

The said Jonin was sweating at his predicament. _'That was so stupid of me, I think I should start telling them full lies instead of half truths. Kyubi as a demon release? What the hell am I thinking!?'_ He mentally berated himself.

"Um, well you see. How do I say this? The Demon Release was so greatly feared in the previous wars. This was not only due to the insane power it gave the user, but the danger it posed to everyone around the user. The Demon Release grants insane amounts of power, but the user can't control it. They rampage around the battlefield killing friend and foe alike and leave almost nothing but destruction in their wake. Most Demon Release users were hunted down because of this and are now almost extinct. There are only nine or so known remaining in different villages. All known records of this bloodline have been destroyed to prevent the remaining users from finding out how to use their Bloodline. This might explain why you've never heard of it before." Kakashi clarified. _'There again I go with the half truths. I'm calling jinchuriki demon release users? And there are nine left? I swear if these girls were as sharp as Naruto or Sasuke they would have caught on by now.'_

"And Naruto is one of those Demon Release users?" Sakura realized a little fearfully.

Noticing his student's doubt Kakashi saw a chance to intervene. "Don't worry Sakura. The Demon Release is still dormant within Naruto and is being suppressed by his robotic Bloodline. As long as he uses his father's bloodline more than his mother's he may never need to accidentally tap into that frightening release."

Sakura nodded in acceptance but Tenten was deep in thought. "But what about the Robot Bloodline Kakashi-sensei? I've almost never heard of it either?"

Kakashi sighed again. "Well, The clan that Naruto's father belonged to was never really that large and mostly kept to themselves. They could also transform into robots, but the best we've seen before was only the size of 'Frenzy'. This means that Naruto is a prodigy of his clan to transform into his two large robot forms."

The two kunoichi made an 'O' with their mouths in realization.

Kakashi thanked Kami that the conversation was over. There was now a much smaller chance of slipping up in his explanations.

His mind slipped back to the real reason that Naruto could not use the Celestial Gates like all his male Uzumaki brethren.

* * *

(Flashback)

"Welcome to your first day of training!" Kakashi announced with an eye smile as his genin appeared at six sharp in the morning.

"Now, which of you know the tree walking exercise?" the masked asked curiously, wanting to know exactly how far his genin had progressed.

"I just started yesterday." Sakura admitted slightly embarrassed. "I made it all the way up on the first go but I didn't have the reserves to keep on going for more than four minutes."

"I've been practicing since the last week of the academy but I'm still trying to make it to the top." Tenten explained.

"That's just fine girls, we can cover that over the next few days." Kakashi reassured before turning to the brothers. "What about you boys?"

Sasuke scoffed and even through the mask, Kakashi could clearly see Naruto's face frown as if insulted.

"Hn. Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and I passed that level with Itachi nii-chan over a year ago." Sasuke informed the jonin.

"Before you even suggest it, yes, we can run on water as well Kakashi sensei. We practice Taijutsu while standing on a lake." Naruto added just as Kakashi was about to speak.

The white haired jonin had to admit, that was certainly impressive for the boys. But that didn't mean he didn't have something planned for the boys. "Okay, here is the lesson plan for today," he started enthusiastically. "Tenten and Sakura will practice on some trees next to a lake I'm taking Naruto and Sasuke to. When Sakura and Tenten need a break then they can watch our training and maybe join in at a later date."

After his Genin's affirmative nods, Kakashi took off towards his destination with four eager genin following close behind.

A few minutes later both Tenten and Sakura had picked their individual trees and began their training for the day while Kakashi and the boy's were standing in the very centre of the massive blue lake.

"So you said you can fight on water hm?" Kakashi asked teasingly.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look before activating their respective doujutsu.

"Tsuihogan!"

"Sharingan!"

"Ready to spar already hm?" Kakashi taunted as he uncovered his own sharingan eye. "Let's make it a little interesting first. This is a Jutsu I just happened to copy from a Mist shinobi during the last war, it's very effective when fighting on water." He explained generally. He wasn't about to tell them that he didn't have the chakra amount to use the jutsu to its full extent. They did not need to know about that. "May I also add that they will attack anything else in that goes into water that does not have my chakra." He added casually. Another advantage that the original Mist user had had was the fact that he could choose who the sharks would attack. Kakashi still didn't have that level of control.

 **"Suiton: Kuufuku no Suisame!"** (Water Release: Hungry Water Sharks) Kakashi cried as he ran through the hand seals. When he was finished the water underneath them was filled with water sharks. Kakashi hid his disappointment however at the fact that they were not active enough to even cause large waves on the surface of the lake and were noticeably less violent than the mist user he had copied from.

The masked Jonin was then distracted by a chuckle from the Uchiha. "You made three big mistakes Kakashi-sensei. You just warned us that we are in danger only if we slip under the water, as if that would happen. Your second mistake was using those hand seals in front of our activated doujutsu, meaning we both copied that move. And your last mistake, Naruto has more chakra than you." Sasuke listed as Kakashi's eyes widened in realization.

"Time to level the playing field Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto announced as he poured his chakra into the copied technique.

Due to less experience, Naruto couldn't control his sharks at all. But his sharks more than made up from his lack of experience by being double Kakashi's sharks in size and raw ferocity as well as much more in number. Since both Jutsu were designed to attack anything that was present in the lake save for their masters, the sharks reacted with each other and what resulted was a grand scale water shark battle royale underwater that churned up the water on the surface violently.

Kakashi took one look below him and shook his head. The lesson just became that much more challenging. The masked Jonin sighed. "Okay that makes us even. But no more Ninjutsu or genjutsu. Agreed?"

The two boys nodded as they entered their respective stances when Kakashi remembered something.

"Naruto, you're allowed to use your Celestial Gates in this fight but only for Taijutsu. And don't worry, I can handle Gai up until his fourth gate in Taijutsu alone so I think I'll be fine." Kakashi reassured. The white haired man then cocked his head to the side slightly when Naruto seemed to look down for a moment and quickly tried to remedy the situation. "My bad, sorry. I didn't know that you couldn't…"

"No, it's not that I can't use the Celestial Gates Kakashi-sensei. It's just that it is too dangerous when I use them. I know that you can stand up to Gai-san's inner gates for the most part, but I don't think you ever want to see my gates." Naruto said solemnly as he interrupted his teacher.

Kakashi looked between both boys and caught on to the fact that both were feeling uncomfortable, the churning, shark filled water below them already forgotten. "What do you mean too dangerous? Surely you don't mean that you are that much more powerful than the other Uzumaki, are you Naruto. You may be the designated heir, but I don't think that made you any more powerful than the rest of your brethren." Kakashi asked as he pondered out loud with one arm under his chin.

"You know of the Kyubi within me, right? Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked seriously.

"Yes of course I do Naruto. But what does the Kyubi have to do with the Celestial Gates?"

"Two weeks ago, Mikoto ka-san, Itachi nii and Sasuke came with Aunty Yugiri and all my other Uzumaki relatives went to a place a little distance away from the village that was also secluded so that we could openly spar without any possible property destruction or disturbing anyone. I was taught how to open my own Celestial Gates at that time and I could already open four of the Celestial Gates." Naruto started.

"That is impressive then Naruto. But I still don't see what is so dangerous." Kakashi commented.

"Do you know how the Uzumaki Gates work Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked curiously, he needed to see just how much his sensei already knew so that he knew what he would still need to explain. After a small head shake from the masked jonin Naruto continued. "They are different from the Inner Gates, mainly because they are a bloodline that does not destroy our body once we open them and we can use each gate until we've exhausted it. By that time we can move onto opening another gate while the gate we previously used 'recharges' for later use. But the most significant difference is the source of the power. The inner gates use up the body's physical energy and converts it into pure energy that can at times surpass the level of enhancement that chakra alone can give you."

"This is the reason why the body needs to undergo such rigorous training in order to open the inner gates. The Uzumaki bloodline however obtains energy from a perfect balance between our powerful physical and powerful spiritual sides therefore creating a much stronger form of chakra that we can use for a certain time limit that differs between individuals. My father's…"

"You know your father!?" Kakashi exclaimed in shock.

The blonde haired boy put on a poker face that bordered sarcastic. "Kakashi-sensei, aunty Yugiri, Mikoto ka-san, and Hiashi-sama all knew. Please don't tell me you were expecting them to keep it from me?"

Kakashi shook his head quickly in denial and ran a finger across his mouth to indicate that it was sealed.

"As I was saying, my father's seal allows the Kyubi chakra to slowly filter into my own coils and merge with my chakra. This means that the Kyubi chakra is already present in my physical part of chakra and since my mindscape is where he is housed, he is a little attached to the spiritual part as well. Therefore when I use the Celestial Gates, pure Kyubi chakra leaks out. Much more evil chakra than I can control. The Kyubi admitted that his chakra was evil and made of practically pure malice and that even without his influence, his chakra affects me negatively. Apparently with each Celestial Gate I open, one Kyubi tail worth of chakra also emerges to join with the pure chakra from my gate release, corrupting the pure chakra as well."

Kakashi's eyes widened in horror. "Then that means… and you opened four gates…"

Naruto sighed. "Yes, in addition to my own power from the gates, I unleashed four tails worth of Kyubi power and subconsciously transformed into Bumblebee as well."

If it was possible, Kakashi's eyes would have fallen out of their sockets with how wide he opened them. "That's an insane combination Naruto. And you said you couldn't control it!"

"Yeah, I couldn't. I was trying to attack every single living thing there. Kaede, Akane, aunty Yugiri and my other aunt were all holding me down with chains while Arashi and my four uncles were doing their best to keep me in place while Itachi nii and Mikoto ka-san made sure I didn't hurt anyone. Since all their hands were occupied, it took nearly half an hour to finally seal the power back into me."

"And you have ten Celestial Gates, meaning if you open nine of them, then all nine of the Kyubi tails will come out as well?" Kakashi concluded. "It's fine Naruto, I guess we will have to exclude your use of the gates during our training sessions. Okay?" Kakashi eye smiled.

Sasuke smirked, "Can we start now then, my muscles are getting stiff from waiting around!"

"I was waiting for you two." Kakashi teased back.

"Yatta! Let's do this Sasuke!" Naruto roared as he launched himself at Kakashi.

"On you Naruto!" Sasuke roared back as he leapt in to join the action.

* * *

(Flashback end)

Kakashi's attention shifted back to his surroundings when Naruto dropped down in the middle of the group as Frenzy. The little robot then took out a holographic disc before transforming back into Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei, here is what I could see around here." The blond boy announced as he activated the disc.

In front of all five members of Team Seven the massive hologram of their surroundings blared into existence and then each individual moved closer to further inspect it. Kakashi had been right about being close to the bandits. Down into the valley a little less than two miles away, there had been a cave entrance that was swarming with bandits. They seemed to be expecting ninja and from what they could tell, the cave branched off into a maze of uncountable corridors that the bandits had mapped out. It was a very good almost foolproof plan. Except for the fact that one of the thieves had been reading a map of the entire cave and Naruto had managed to see it and now had it burned into his memory. That and the rest of Team Seven could also see it through the hologram that Naruto was now displaying. The map was drawn to almost pinpoint accuracy and there had even been a scale in the corner to match the distance. Where Tora was kept had even been outlined in a big red circle, talk about convenient.

"From what I can see, they were expecting us." Sasuke mused. "Then again they did ask for the ransom but they do look like they are getting ready for a war."

"That cave entrance looks like the only real way in." Tenten commented as she studied the formation.

"And they are armed, what if they have a Missing Nin with them?" Sakura added her own thoughts.

"Personally, I think I should just transform and walk straight through them but that kinda defeats the purpose of stealth. My smarter idea would be to find where Tora is from above ground then use the Hidden Mole Jutsu to tunnel in then tunnel back out." Naruto proposed. After a few laughs at his first comment, the four students unanimously voted on Naruto's idea. Not that there was any other to choose from. They didn't want to pick a fight.

Kakashi chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head in mock depression. "Oh my, my lovely students forgot all about me."

"No we didn't Kakashi-sensei, we leave you behind to fight if we get compromised." Tenten said cheerily.

"We include you in all our plans Kakashi-sensei. Like plan B is for us to abandon you mid mission to take on all of those bandits by yourself, while we head back safely to Konoha." Sakura added, quickly catching on to Tenten's drift.

The masked Jonin sweat dropped. "On second thought, I think it's better if you just forgot about me…"

Naruto chuckled at his jonin sensei. "Oh don't be like that Kakashi-sensei." Naruto comforted. "You can always go into depression after the mission!" The blonde boy added humorously as he joined the other Genin in laughing.

"That's enough for now." Sasuke recalled the group's attention before turning to their team leader. "Kakashi-sensei, you've heard what we came up with so far. Did you have anything you want to warn us about it?" The Uchiha asked seriously.

Just like that, Team seven was back into business mode.

"As a matter of fact Sasuke, yes I do. We may be able to pinpoint exactly where Tora is on because of that map that we saw, but we have no idea how far underground it is. The cave entrance is the only part of the cave that is above ground level and that is at the bottom of this valley so it is safe to say that Tora's room may be very deep down. One of the risks of using the Hidden Mole jutsu to tunnel down is that if you run out of chakra while underground then you may be stuck there with nobody else really knowing where you are. In short, you may suffocate. We will only find out if you have enough chakra to head back out once we get in there so we can only hope for the best. The soldier pills are available but just like in every other situation, they are dangerous. The after effects of using a soldier pill are very risky and furthermore, your bodies are still developing so that increases the risks even more. I am against you using them and you only have permission to do so under the direst of situations. If one or more of you no longer have enough chakra on your way out, then we will fight out way out through the tunnels since they are at most bandit level only." Kakashi laid out the plan formally as he made sure each of his students understood what was being planned.

The white haired jonin then turned to his blond student. "Naruto, I would suggest against transforming into any robot forms you may have in front of the bandits. Since we do not plan to kill them, they should not catch sight of that ability of yours because it may leak out. Actually, try not to use any large robot forms outside of the Konoha unless it is a last resort. You know how this ninja world runs, information is power so we do our best to keep it hidden."

"No problem Kakashi-sensei. I can still use Tsuihogan and harden my body as armour so there should be no need for me to resort into Barricade or Bumblebee. I believe I can handle myself." Naruto said thoughtfully as he considered his options.

"Yosh, plans are set. Now let's set out and kick some…"

"Language, Tenten." Sakura frowned. "You should really start acting more womanly." The pink haired girl added.

The bun haired girl grinned back. "There's no need for that! The only boy I'll like anyway is the one who loves Boom-kun here just as much as I do." Tenten declared proudly.

The boys along with Sakura all gave her a confused look. "Boom-kun? Who's Boom-kun?" Naruto asked unsurely.

"Why this of course!" Tenten exclaimed as she unsealed her giant, seal enhanced mace.

The group shared one massive sweat drop before they started following Naruto to the spot where they would tunnel straight down into the hostage's cell.

* * *

(Hostage Room- Sometime Later)

"Ouch! Oh Kami that hurt!" Naruto growled as he nursed his injured head. He had been tunneling downwards head first from the ground surface up above and so when he had suddenly reached the underground room that he was looking for, he had fallen down onto the harsh ground head first. The blonde boy rubbed his head in pain as he looked around bewildered. "Stupid Kakashi-sensei. He could have at least warned us that it was not wise to dig down into an underground room head first." Naruto growled out as he stood up nursing his head.

As if on cue, Sasuke fell head first through the ceiling as well and his forehead collided powerfully with Naruto's own. A deafening cracking sound reverberated through the small room. "What the hell Naruto!" Sasuke roared in agony as he rolled around the floor clutching his head. "Couldn't your head be any harder!?"

Whatever Sasuke was feeling however, was nothing compared to the blonde boy's pain. "Why are you blaming my head? You fell on me right after I fell on my head! You should apologize!" Naruto snapped as he tried to send away the stars that were floating around on his vision.

"Ahhhh!" Two female screams sounded as Tenten and Sakura fell through the ceiling as well.

Acting on reflex, the two boys suddenly jumped up to catch their teammates in mid air before they suffered similar fates to the boys. Sasuke had managed to gently snatch the bun haired girl out of the air while Naruto in turn grabbed onto Sakura. Both boys then landed into crouches to slow their landing onto the cave floor.

"Heavy, Sakura." Naruto grunted out.

"Did you just call me heavy Naruto!?" Sakura yelled out as she brought her fist down onto the blonde boy's already battered head.

In a flash, Naruto was on the other end of the cave room hiding behind Tenten and Sasuke as he hid from the insulted pink haired girl. "Man, she's scary when she's mad." The blonde boy commented as he clutched his head.

Without warning Tenten whirled round and boxed her lively teammate in the face, sending him sprawling onto the floor, much to the amusement of Sasuke and Sakura.

"Panda-chan whyyyy?" Naruto groaned out as anime tears rolled down his face.

Tenten gave her figurative brother a wicked grin. "I don't know Whisker-kun. Maybe I just felt like it?" Tenten suggested innocently. Sasuke snickered at his brother's misfortune and Sakura found the scene hilarious.

Naruto slumped into a corner drawing circles in the ground muttering something about uncaring friends. This had the opposite effect as it just made the trio laugh harder. Well, not that hard in Sasuke's case as he was still feeling the effects of his powerful head collision with Naruto.

Their laughing stopped when Kakashi's head burst through the ceiling as well. Unlike his students however, the masked jonin had enough experience to flip midair to ensure that he landed gracefully on his feet in a crouch. The masked Jonin then gave an eye smile at the group. "Hello there, my cute little Genin. I trust you had a good landing? He asked too innocently.

His response was a very powerful uppercut, courtesy of Naruto, to the chin that sent him flying towards the ceiling. The white haired Jonin connected with said ceiling so hard that spider cracks formed from the point of impact and the displacement of air showed just how fast he had been forced onto the roof. In his dazed formed, Kakashi failed to realize that he was still hanging from the cave ceiling with swirls in his eyes. He could still hear the angry voice of a certain irritated student of his.

"GOOD LANDING!? GOOD LANDING!?" Naruto roared as he paced around the floor of the room in a rage. "IF THAT WAS WHAT YOU CALL A GOOD LANDING THEN I WOULD REALLY HATE TO SEE WHAT YOU CALL A BAD ONE KAKASHI!" Naruto ranted up at the still dazed jonin.

"AND WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING UP THERE!? GET BACK DOWN HERE!" Naruto growled as he leapt up to grab the masked jonin's before slamming the said Jonin flat onto the ground, forming more spider cracks to branch out from the floor.

The masked jonin sighed as he was sprawled out onto the floor. "I'm never playing a joke on you guys again." He mumbled in defeat up at his blonde aggressor.

"You'd better not Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as he raised his arm again.

The white haired jonin unconsciously flinched at the action before he realized that Naruto was simply offering a helping hand to stand up. Kakashi eyed the hand suspiciously before deciding to take it. He had been the victim of Naruto's pranks far too many times to be too sure he was safe but thankfully, Naruto had gone back into mission mode.

"That cat is supposed to be somewhere in this room." Sasuke stated bluntly as he looked around the torch lit cave room carefully. With a little flickering of the flame, Sasuke spied a little bit of movement behind a few large rocks and went to inspect.

The flash of a red ribbon disappeared again just as Sasuke glimpsed it and the Uchiha grinned as he reached for it. "Found her!" he shouted out.

The raven haired boy was met by a ferocious snarl as Tora leapt up from hr hiding place and dug her claws into Sasuke's hand. The Uchiha drew his hand back in surprise only for the cat to leap onto his face and claw part of his mask of.

Sasuke then felt his rage spark which he signified by summoning fire to his hands as he aimed to barbecue the feline.

Tora, upon realizing that Sasuke could use magic, dashed away in alarm to the one place that she would feel safe. That safe place just happened to be into Sakura's arms as it quivered in fear, finally coming to terms with the fact that it was now dealing with its rescuers and no longer the kidnappers. Well, in the presence of its rescuers and one Uchiha that suddenly gained the knowledge of barbecued cat.

"It's okay kitty." Sakura said gently as she stroked Tora's fur. "We're here to get you out of here safely." The pink haired girl reassured.

As if understanding the word's meanings, Tora turned to look at the enraged Uchiha that had fire swirling around his hands. Tenten and Sakura caught onto the cat's meaning quickly and Tenten stood defensively in front of the wild feline, glaring at Sasuke and daring him to come closer.

"Now now Sasuke, I don't think that it is a good idea to bring back a burnt cat to the client. They would be most displeased." Kakashi pleaded with the raging Uchiha. "It's our first mission too so that would be bad for representation." The masked Jonin added matter of factly.

Sasuke snarled at the cat through his torn mask. "But I want to roast it! Payback time kitty!"

Naruto chuckled as he walked up to his brother and whispered into the Uchiha's ear. The duo was watched in puzzlement as the flames on Sasuke's hands and the usually level headed Uchiha was calmed down. Sasuke then unsealed another face mask from his storage and put it on. "Okay Naruto, got it. Step one, rescue kitty. Step two, kidnap kitty. Step three, roast kitty." Sasuke repeated to himself.

Both the girls gasped as Kakashi sweat dropped. "Okay kids, time to drop it. Mission time." Kakashi ordered as reverted back to stern mission mode. "Does everyone have enough chakra to tunnel back up?"

Sasuke and Naruto nodded before looking to the remainder of their team.

"Sorry guys." Tenten apologized with a downcast look. "I spent probably more than half of my chakra getting myself down here."

"I used up even more chakra than you Tenten." Sakura added sadly.

"Well, it looks like we'll need to try sneaking our way out." Kakashi said enthusiastically. "Now when we go out that door, we move in Formation Delta. Sasuke and Naruto, you two up front and use your eyes to keep watch. Tenten, behind those two to make sure any stray kunai won't injure Sakura. Sakura, just carry Tora and cast genjutsu if you have chakra to spare. I'll be watching out back. Naruto, you know the way out?"

Naruto gave a small nod. "See it once, I got it all stored up here." The blonde boy said as he prodded the side of his head. "Team Seven plans set, moving out now." Naruto ordered.

The other Genin and the masked Jonin nodded in unison before they all looked towards the powerful looking door that had been placed over the entrance to isolate this particular section of the rocky, underground caverns. It was kind of stupid to use a steel door to keep a cat hostage but then again, bandits weren't usually the smartest bunch. One had to wonder how they got the thick, reinforced steel door down here however…

Sasuke addressed the entire team as they moved towards the thick obstacle. "After all that noise we've been making down here, I don't think anyone heard us because of this door. After its down, absolute silence. Sakura, do something to shut kitty up or I'm going to fry it ahead of schedule."

"Fine." Sakura growled back as she cast a genjutsu over the cat to put it to sleep.

Sasuke then turned to his orange masked brother. "Naruto, think you can get that door open silently?" he challenged.

The blonde Uzumaki scoffed lightly at his red masked brother's teasing. "Of course I can 'ttebayo! Just watch!"

Naruto hardened his right arm with armour and placed his hand on the steel door. There weren't even handles on their side! Those bandits must have been paranoid that the cat would escape and walk out on its own…

The blonde Uzumaki then took a glance at the locking system and smashed it in as his team face palmed. "That should open it then." Naruto stated while trying to push open the door. "Hey, it isn't working. Maybe if I push a little harder." He suggested to himself as he added more force to his push.

The door began to creak under the strain it was being put under and Naruto looked at the door in confusion. Doors usually swung open after you broke their locks. With his distracted mindset Naruto absentmindedly put a 'little' too much of his strength against the door and didn't notice the door creaking under the immense strain it was going under.

"Umm, N-Naruto?" Sakura interrupted. "I think the door's going to…" she didn't get to finish however, since it was already too late.

The large door flew off its lock as the bolts that held it in place were violently ripped apart against the Uzumaki's force and the stainless chunk of metal rocketed towards the opposite wall where it impacted with a deafening sound. Everyone of Team Seven flinched at the unwelcome noise as the ringing sound of the vibrating door echoed across the entirety of the underground cavern.

Almost immediately the Genin team heard shouting erupt from every direction as the large force of bandits were alerted to their presence.

"Well done Whisker-kun." Tenten remarked dryly.

"There goes our stealth." Sakura sighed heavily.

"What part of 'silently' didn't you get Naruto!?" Sasuke roared at his brother.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops, guess I can't really control my strength huh?"

"Team Seven!" Kakashi shouted out in a strict voice.

All four Genin shut up as they stood to attention.

"No change in plan. Delta Formation set to go! Switch to offensive, non-lethal action to ensure safety of objective." Kakashi barked out the order and Team seven rapidly got into position. "Naruto, don't let them see you transform. The only information they are allowed to get regarding you should be about your new doujutsu, keep your Transformer abilities a secret."

"Yes sir!" Naruto replied quickly. "Tsuihogan!" the blonde boy yelled out as the cerulean blue irises of his eyes were replaced by an intense orange.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke shouted out as well, all three tomoe spinning rapidly in each blood red eye.

"Move out!" Naruto shouted as he and Sasuke charged off down a length of the tunnel, the shouts and yells of bandits drawing closer and closer to their position.

"Sasuke, don't add fire to your fists and feet during this fight." Naruto warned his brother. "The increased strength as well as the flames might accidentally kill someone."

The Uchiha nodded in acknowledgement. The bandits were not ninja and there was a very good chance that he might severely injure them.

At the back of the line, Kakashi watched his genin proudly as they organized themselves for the oncoming challenge. The masked Jonin couldn't help letting out a small chuckle as the horde of bandits burst out from around one of the corners from another tunnel, yelling their heads off as they waved around their swords and spears.

Kakashi observed as the boys entered their respective clan Taijutsu styles, Sasuke abruptly entering his Uchiha Interceptor Fist stance and Naruto gracefully entering the Uzumaki Flowing Fist Stance.

As the name implied, the Uchiha Interceptor Fist consisted of using the sharingan to predict the following moves of the opponent to correctly intercept it before launching a fast and powerful counterattack. The boy's punches and kicks were powerful enough to send each bandit he hit flying with one blow, but not powerful enough to severely injure them.

Turning to the other boy that was holding up the front of the formation, Kakashi took one more chance to observe the beautiful grace of the Uzumaki flowing style. He had gotten the gist of what Naruto was doing when it was explained that Naruto only pictured himself as a floating head and body without any arms and legs. Instead of limbs, Naruto pictured himself as having eight orbs floating around his body. These eight 'orbs' consisted of his two hands, elbows, knees and feet. Then he would picture it as if each orb had a will of its own as it orbited Naruto's body randomly. With all eight orbs moving randomly in different directions, the Uzumaki looked as if he was dancing and flying around as each limb moved gracefully. One would wonder how a style that appeared to have such slow movements would be deadly, but they would soon discover that there were hardly any openings to exploit due to the unpredictability of the opponent. And each blow landed was like getting hit by truck. Thankfully Naruto seemed to be holding back against the bandits as well.

Tenten grumbled as she walked behind the two powerhouses that were clearing the way in front of her. They were getting all the fun in this mission. It didn't help either that all of Tenten's weapons were lethal to non shinobi, especially her beloved mace. The enhanced weapon could probably bring the entire cavern down on top of them. In short, she was just there to make sure that no stray weapon got past Naruto and Sasuke. Not that it counted for much since the bandits were only armed with close range weaponry. In short, Tenten was incredibly bored and feeling useless. At least Sakura was carrying a cat.

Sakura wasn't feeling so good either. It was due to her low chakra capacity that they had been forced to fight their way out, putting her and her teammates at more risk. She had trained past her limits for the past month but she hardly felt any change in the situation. She was holding back the team. She didn't even want to cast any genjutsu at the moment either since the pink haired girl was saving up enough chakra for the run back to Konoha. As if feeling her depression, the cat in her arms rose up and licked her cheek before purring. Sakura smiled a little at the cat's message and stroked its head gently. Maybe she wasn't so useless, they trusted her to keep the objective safe. What did everyone hate about Tora anyway? Nobody could actually hate the cat that much right?

At that moment a great majority of Konoha's shinobi forces felt an urge to sneeze.

"This is kinda boring, neh, Sasuke." Naruto stated in a disappointed manner as he knocked a few more bandits away. The blonde boy decided to add salt to the wound by yawning.

"You insolent brat!" One of the bandits yelled. "I'm going to teach…" The man's rant was silenced when Sasuke's closed fist crashed against the man's jaw.

"Yeah, they just keep coming." Sasuke groaned. "They aren't even enough for a warm up! Are we nearly out Naruto?"

"Ten minutes if we keep walking through them like this." Naruto sighed heavily.

Suddenly a tall, broad shouldered man appeared in front of the boys, standing proud. "Trying to get our hostage now are we?" He asked in a deep, threatening voice. "In that case, you'll have to get through me!" The man declared as he summoned fire to his own hands.

"Finally! It just got interesting!" Naruto perked up.

Sasuke summoned fire to his own hands as he grunted in agreement.

The three shinobi tensed up as they prepared to battle… when a well thrown rock smashed dead centre into the rogue fire user's forehead, effectively knocking out the large man.

The masked brothers sweat dropped and turned to see a grumpy Tenten repeatedly throwing and catching a rock out of the air. The bun haired girl caught their stares and glared back. "What? I was bored! He's just lucky that wasn't a kunai."

"Can we just get out of here now? I don't like staying here for much longer." Sakura grumbled behind them.

"Now now my cute little Genin, there will be a time to argue but it would be wise to do so after the mission. Oh and Naruto…" Kakashi raised a finger to point at the bandit that was about to behead the blonde boy.

Naruto simply raised his fist which slammed into the unsuspecting bandit behind him. "Yes Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi sighed heavily. "Never mind, let's just go."

Just as Kakashi said that another horde of bandits appeared to try and prevent them from reaching the entrance.

"I'm really tempted to use a Jutsu right now." Naruto suggested pleadingly.

"Idiot, not unless you're sure you won't kill anyone."

"Dammit."

* * *

(Ten Minutes Later- Outside Cave Mouth at Bottom of Valley)

"Thank Kami that's done with. Those idiots were just like training posts, you can hit them but they can't hit back." Naruto said cheerfully as he swung his arm around to stretch it out.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he put his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "I want to go back to Konoha and spar with Lee or something though. I was expecting more from a C-rank mission." The Uchiha complained as he sulked a little at the lack of effort needed.

"What the hell are you complaining about!? At least you did something!" Tenten yelled as she glared at the boys.

"Meow." Tora let herself be heard for a moment as all eyes turned to the cat.

Nobody missed the glint of mischievousness flash in Sasuke's eyes. "By the way, kitty…" He started calmly as his hands lit with flame. "Roast time!" he yelled as he leapt towards the cat.

Right before the Uchiha could reach his frightened target he was brought down to earth by a much stronger force. "Come on Sasuke be patient, we'll return the cat first." Naruto scolded his red masked brother lightly.

Sakura and Kakashi just laughed at the friendly banter.

Unknown to them, they were being watched.

Up in the trees of the nearby forest, a large platoon of ninja awaited to ambush the genin team. Their objective was to obtain an Uzumaki, alive.

"Shiro, have you got confirmation?" The commander asked as he carefully eyed Kakashi. They were unaware of the capabilities of the Genin, but the legendary Copy Ninja was someone that many would easily recognize.

"Hai senpai. Genin team under Kakashi Hatake. Listed as following, Tenten Jakonato, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto… Uzumaki. Our target is the blond boy with the orange sleeves and mask."

The commanding officer nodded as he assessed the current situation. Yes, this mission had a very high success rate all right. "Everybody into position!" he whispered loudly enough for only his men to hear. "Attack on my mark!"

* * *

"Come Sasuke, say sorry to Tora." Sakura teased her red masked teammate.

"No. I won't. Who apologizes to something that they're going to kill later?" Sasuke grunted sarcastically.

Team Seven were not following any formation whatsoever at the moment and were just strolling casually through the valley. Kakashi had long since given up on his perverted books, running out of time to use them with how busy he was, and was now lazily keeping pace behind his genin with his hands in his pockets as he watched Tenten, Sakura and Sasuke mess around.

Naruto however, was not feeling as safe or relaxed as he should have been.

 **"Kit, you can feel that too can't you?"** Kurama warned from inside the mindscape. Make no mistake, he still hated the boy, but the Bijuu didn't exactly want to find out the consequences if his container died while he was still in it.

 _'Yeah, I can feel that alright._ ' Naruto thought back.

 _"It feels like miniscule killing intent in the trees Naruto."_ Optimus added from Kurama's side. _"When was the last time you sent out a Chakra Pulse?"_

 _'Just before we infiltrated the cave.'_

 _"Then I suggest you send another one out right now, just to be sure."_ The large autobot suggested warily. Something was wrong in this picture and everyone in Naruto's mindscape could feel it clear as day. They just didn't know what.

 _'Sure, I was just thinking about that.'_ Naruto thought back as he prepared himself to let out another large Chakra Pulse to scout the surroundings.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) Multiple shouts were heard as a large wave of blindingly bright lightning bolts burst forth from the tree line towards the group at deadly speed.

Team Seven jumped back in surprise at the deadly assault but the lightning spears were going far too fast for them to counter in time. Luckily for them, Naruto was already tensed up and was already launching a counter jutsu.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath) The powerful wind attack was large enough to violently push all the air in front of Naruto forwards, slamming into the oncoming spears of lightning. The wind attack easily dispersed the lightning bolts that shimmered a little before dying out.

Some more shouts from the trees alerted them that whoever was ambushing them wasn't done yet. **"Suiton: Arashi Yari!"** (Water Release: Storm Spears) Now a multitude of sharpened bodies of water rushed towards the genin team, threatening to impale them.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) The blonde boy countered, the large rock effectively stopping the water spears as they collided against it. The boulder carried on unhindered until it smashed against the source of the water jutsu. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he spotted shadows darting away from where his house sized boulder had impacted.

 **"Chakura Parusu!"** (Chakra Pulse) The Uzumaki yelled as he unleashed a massive shockwave of pure chakra that easily covered the entire valley that they were in. The wave of chakra dispelled any illusion that it passed over revealing over forty hidden shinobi littering the tree line. They were startled by the amount of chakra that had been put into the move and glanced uneasily at the Uzumaki who didn't even look the least bit winded.

Naruto grimaced slightly behind his orange mask as all the information was relayed back to him.

"Team, Rat formation." Kakashi ordered. Naruto remained where he was at the head of the group. Sakura stood directly behind him while cradling the cat, ready to cast any genjutsu in her arsenal. Sasuke faced the left side with his Uchiha ninjato drawn as flames engulfed his hands and feet. Tenten was guarding the other end opposite to Sasuke and a seal on her wrist glowed as her massive and heavily modified mace burst into her capable hands. Kakashi was facing the other way at the back of the group as he guarded the rear area behind them.

"What's the situation Naruto?" Kakashi demanded as he scanned the tree line cautiously, his sharingan eye already uncovered. Those lightning and water jutsu had been aimed to kill or seriously injure after all.

Naruto growled. "Sixty shinobi have surrounded us Kakashi-sensei. All of them have high Chunin chakra reserves or higher. I just dispelled all their Genjutsu so they will show themselves in a minute or so."

Beneath his mask Kakashi frowned. _'What could they possibly want? They aren't with those bandits otherwise they would have been inside as well. This is a third party, maybe someone with a grudge against Konoha.'_

He was interrupted from his thoughts when a tall but thin, wiry man with wrinkled features walked out from under the trees. "Hello hello." The man greeted casually in a sing song voice. "What do we have here? You've got some power behind you, young Uzumaki."

"Who are you and what do you want? And how did you know I was an Uzumaki?" Naruto spoke threateningly through an altered voice box that made his voice much deeper and threatening.

The commander blinked in surprise at the voice that came out of the Uzumaki's mouth. It was unnatural and sent an uneasy chill down his spine. The intense orange eyes only added to the mystery since they were all that he could see of his target's face. The blonde hair had been hidden effectively by the hood and the majority of the boy's face was covered by the orange mask. The boy looked far more experienced than his years.

"We are here to capture you, Uzumaki-san. After we dispose of your current companions, we will make sure that you tell us where your beloved little village is regardless of whether you want to or not. And when we do, rest assured that we will finish what we once started." The man gained a maniacal grin as he unveiled their plans. "If you're wondering why I'm telling you, well, I don't really believe any of you will be walking away from here."

"What do you mean you want to find his village!?" Tenten yelled at the man. "You want to torture him just to find Konohagakure?"

The man burst into laughter while Naruto clenched his fists as hard as he could. _'They're threatening my village!'_ Naruto growled inwardly.

(Inside the mindscape)

 **"This is interesting."** Kurama commented inside the mindscape. **"I've never felt so much anger from the kit before."** The massive bijuu turned to the other occupants of Naruto when he felt their suspicious gazes rest on him.

"Kurama, you had better not be influencing the boy." Optimus threatened dangerously as the other robots behind him also tensed up.

The Kyubi scoffed at the threat. **"Really Optimus? Really? I am pretty sure that you would know if I was going to try anything. We're kind of trapped in the same seal anyway. That anger is all the kit's. Then again what would you expect? That man just threatened a people that have Naruto as their heir. Don't you think he has a right to be angry?"**

Optimus looked away reluctantly as they both turned back to watch the outside proceedings. "Either way, this amount of anger in Naruto is unnatural."

 **"We can agree on that."** Kurama agreed as he put his head on his paws. _**'I wonder if there's going to be some bloodshed in this fight. That would be interesting.'**_ Kurama thought to himself and couldn't stop an evil grin from forming. **_'What will you do now? Naruto.'_**

(Back Outside)

"So you don't even know!" The commander exclaimed loudly as he laughed at Tenten. "You don't know anything about the Uzumaki do you! That's just rich!" The commander slapped his knee in amusement.

Tenten and Sakura turned confused glances to their blonde teammate and they could quickly deduce that Naruto was mad. That and apparently, Sasuke and Kakashi knew what was going on since the girls noticed them tense up.

"N-Naruto…"

"Later Sakura. I'll explain later to both of you." Naruto whispered at the girls behind him. **"Doton: San-Sou Hogo Domo!"** (Earth Release: Three Layered Protective Dome) Naruto announced as he erected the powerful earth defense to shield them from the enemy for a moment.

"N-Naruto what's going…"

"Not now Sakura, I have to tell you guys something. Kakashi-sensei, you're thinking the same thing too right?" Naruto asked seriously as they heard lightning jutsu try and pierce through the outer layer of the dome.

Sakura was a little miffed at constantly being constantly interrupted but she could tell this was important.

Kakashi nodded his head as the rest of team seven turned to the masked jonin for answers. "Sakura, you're holding the client and we need to make sure it gets out safe."

"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei, I'll stay away from the fight while using genjutsu…"

"No Sakura. You won't even be joining us in this fight." Kakashi said firmly.

"What!? But why!? I've grown combat capable in the past month Kakashi-sensei! I can help you in here as part of the team!" Sakura yelled. It was like her sensei had just called her useless on the team.

The pink haired girl held back her tears when she felt her sensei's hand on her shoulders and looked up to meet his eyes.

"It's not that Sakura. You're not useless, far from it actually." Kakashi smiled when Sakura's face lit up from the praise. "That's why I trust you to head back to Konoha with Tora. She is the mission objective in the first place." Kakashi explained.

Sakura clutched the cat closer to her chest and nodded.

"Tenten, the same goes for you. I need someone to help protect Sakura and there is too big a risk of you getting hurt is you stay here to fight with us."

Tenten swung her large mace around experimentally as she grinned. "No problem Kakashi-sensei."

"Good, now here's what I want you to do. Both of you tunnel underground in the direction of Konoha and get back up above ground when you have gone a little deeper into the forest just to make sure nobody will see you." Kakashi instructed.

"Hai Kakashi-sensei!" The two girls acknowledged him before starting to tunnel underground.

After watching the girls go, Naruto turned to his red masked brother. "Sasuke…"

Naruto didn't get to finish as the ambush party had finally managed to break through the earth barrier that the Uzumaki had put up, forcing each one of them to leap away from the spot.

"And pop goes the weasel!" The commander chorused as he and his men charged towards the group of three.

Naruto leapt towards his brother quickly. "Sasuke! I want you to follow Tenten and Sakura! Leave me and Kakashi-sensei here to deal with this!" The blonde boy ordered.

"What!? No way Naruto! I'm not leaving you and Kakashi to fight against this many ninja!" Sasuke yelled back angrily.

"Now's not the time Sasuke! Tenten and Sakura might be in danger!" Naruto shouted back at his brother before his eyes widened. **"Doton: Doryuuheki!"** (Earth Release: Mud Wall) The wall of hardened earth erupted behind Sasuke and halted the horde of kunai that had been thrown in their direction.

 **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire) Sasuke breathed out a torrent of flames that temporarily forced the advancing shinobi to move backwards to evade. The Uchiha's eye widened when he registered what Naruto had shouted out to him. "What do you mean they could be in danger!?"

Naruto whirled round and slammed his fist into the chest of one of the attacking shinobi, sending the man flying. "We know this tactic Sasuke! The main group of attackers charge against the target group and a sub group waits in the background for any stragglers! What if there are more of these men waiting for Sakura and Tenten that I couldn't sense!" Naruto explained while shouting at the top of his voice. It was hard to get something across to someone else in the midst of the noise in the battlefield.

Sasuke growled as Naruto's logic made sense, and it was far too true. Tenten and Sakura could handle themselves against probably eight high level chunin on their own, but what if there was more than that? "Naruto cover me! I'm going after them!" Sasuke declared as he started sprinting off in the direction the girls had taken.

Three of the ninja noticed Sasuke and decided to try and stop the runaway target.

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

All three of them were forced to abandon whatever jutsu they were preparing when they were forced to avoid an attack that would have most likely ripped them to shreds.

"Where the hell are you guys looking? I'm right here morons." Naruto growled out in his deep, altered voice.

Kakashi landed down right next to Naruto as the remnants of team seven stood back to back in the middle of the valley, out in plain sight in a large clearing devoid of trees.

"Naruto, get your armour ready but only use your forms as a last resort. Keep it hidden for as long as you can." Kakashi whispered to his student.

"Haha, as if we'll need to." Naruto joked.

Kakashi chuckled. "Oh well, they're going to come at us full force now. Ready?"

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled out.

* * *

(Forest–A little closer to Konoha)

Two almost exhausted girls and one startled cat erupted from the ground deep inside the lush forest.

"Okay, I think we're far enough away from that group so they can't sense us." Tenten panted heavily.

The two girls were startled when a group of at least fifteen shinobi leapt down from the tree tops.

"I have to admit." Started a young woman that seemed to be the leader of the group. She was twirling a trench knife similar to Asuma's in one hand while the other rested on her hip as she smirked at the girls. "I have to say, we were quite mad to be left out of the ambush just to wait here for someone to show up. We were more than a little skeptical that someone would show up. But you two lovely ladies have proved us wrong. Since none of you is a boy, then that means that it is okay to kill you since our target must be occupied elsewhere."

The girls were surprised by the scantily clad woman and her attitude but they were even more surprised when she ran her tongue across the blade of the trench knife slowly, not once taking her eyes of them.

"I wonder what you're blood will taste like. I'm Miza by the way" The woman said in a seductive voice. "Let's go boys."

Sakura gulped as she backed up letting her mind run free on the best genjutsu to try and use for this type of situation.

Tenten however just glared as them. "You want my blood lady? Then come get it!" She yelled violently as she pointed an open palm at her attackers.

A seal glowed white on her palm before it began spewing out kunai and shuriken at immense speed and power towards the scary lady's group that split up under pressure from something that resembled a fully automatic rifle.

"What the hell!" One of the ninja yelled. **"Raiton: Raikyu!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball) he fired trying to take down Tenten before she could spew anymore damage.

The bun haired girl simply raised her oversized mace that acted like a shield against the lightning jutsu before absorbing it. Tenten's grin nearly split her face as her beloved mace grew a bright blue. She launched herself at the man who had dared to attack her and he barely leaped out of the tree in time before the mace connected with the tree, almost completely obliterating it as the stored up lightning jutsu added to the destructive potential of the upgraded mace.

"It seems we cannot take you lightly little girl." Miza sighed before disappearing in a blur.

Reacting purely on instinct Tenten raised her mace to try and deflect the downwards slice towards her shoulders but was not fast enough to prevent the trench knife from digging into her shoulder as she screamed in agony.

Biting back the pain, the bun haired girl roughly shoved the surprised woman off before smashing her mace into the Miza's body. The woman's body rocketed away from the point of impact and the Miza found herself embedded deep in the trunk of a large tree.

She groaned a little in pain as she clutched her ribs.

"That's funny. I could have sworn I was cutting off your head." She commented drily before turning her attention to the pink haired teammate and narrowing her eyes. "A Genjutsu user?" she questioned. The woman's doubts were confirmed when she saw two of the men under her command violently knock each other out.

She coughed a little into her hand and pulled her hand back only to see that she was coughing blood. "Well this is certainly going to be more fun than I thought." Looking up to the Genin that had injured her, the woman grinned. "Hmm, she looks distracted."

And distracted Tenten was. She was trying to fend off four lightning user's at the same time and was finding it increasingly difficult to make sure that she wasn't fried by one of their jutsu.

Ducking under a punch from an enormous shinobi, Tenten swung her charged up mace with all her might. "Hyaaa!" She yelled loudly as her mace crashed into the larger man's stomach while simultaneously unleashing all the stored up power in the mace. The resulting blue flash of light from the explosion signified that the attack had connected and the big man was sent hurtling into his comrade that had been terrorizing Sakura.

Miza saw a chance since Tenten's back was open and blurred forward with her trench knife raised high.

Sakura saw what was about to happen and screamed. "Tenten!"

* * *

 **TDDE: What a cliffhanger! What a turn of events! Reminds me of that one time I left a cliffhanger for you all on Master of Jiongu.**

 **So how was today's chapter? Like it? Love it? Want to worship Yatsu for it? Well there's a box right below for doing just that!**

 **Now some of you may want to ask, 'Dragon, why haven't you been updating anything else?' And I have a perfect answer for that.**

 **1\. I've got Midterms happening right now, so I've been spending a lot of time studying. Mainly this month, the only exceptions are this, as I only handle the small details, and my KH chapter that I pumped out earlier.**

 **2\. I'm in love with my new game, Xenoblade Chronicles X. That shit is AWESOME! You've got giant robots, an ENORMOUS world, and an AMAZING story!**

 **3\. Well...I'm a lazy bastard :P**

 **Yatsu already gave you his reason as it's 'apparently' my fault...**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	11. Chapter 11: First Kill

Chapter 11: First Kill

* * *

 **So...we're back with another chapter. Two chapters in one day is strange for me I know. But Yatsu sent this right as I was finishing Fairy Tail, so I got this one to bring in too.**

 **Review Time!**

 **Kairitrion Cerulean: I'm personally a fan of the Demon Tora setting, for the humor that it brings mainly, but I enjoy reading about the nice Tora as well. As for the trees, isn't that why they have Yamato?**

 **Rebmul: I have no idea when Megatron will appear, you'll have to take it up with Yatsu about that one. As for the rage...sorry to say that you're wrong on both guesses, we're doing something VERY different...**

 **Now then, let the party begin!**

* * *

(Konoha Forest)

Miza saw a chance since Tenten's back was open and blurred forward with her trench knife raised high.

Sakura saw what was about to happen and screamed. "Tenten!"

The bun haired girl whirled around in surprise at the warning and did her best to block the strike, but was more than a second too late.

The pink haired girl screamed as she helplessly watched the trench knife effortlessly cleave through a clearly shocked Tenten. Sakura winced at the sight as her head snapped away from her friend's fate as tears began to pour down her face. She just couldn't believe it. How could this have happened on a simple C-rank mission? It was like she was in shock, refusing to accept that one of her closest friends had just died in front of her very eyes. She stroked the frightened cat that she cradled in her arms as the cold clutches of despair clutched onto her. Suddenly she felt a spark of something within her and it snapped as anger began to cloud her vision.

Unknown to Sakura, due to her sudden reluctance to view the scene for any longer, she did not manage to see Tenten's body disappear into a puff of smoke and that in her place was a cleanly bisected log.

Tenten breathed out heavily as she took a little breather from the battle as she clutched her injured shoulder from a while ago. "Damn it this hurts. Better bandage it up." She whispered mostly to herself as she unsealed a first aid kit and began applying the medication and a slight pain killer.

"You… you just killed my friend…" Sakura whispered from where she had dropped to her knees, her hair hiding her face.

The attacking shinobi looked at her quizzically. Didn't she see the **Kawarimi** (Substitution) that her teammate had just gone through to replace herself with the log?

"You will pay!" Sakura yelled out as her head shot up, revealing bloodshot eyes. "I'll make you pay!"

Miza took a step back from the enraged pinkette at the anger display and blinked in confusion. What the hell was going on? All of a sudden the ground started to rumble violently and she and her men stumbled.

"W-what's going on!?" one of the men shouted fearfully as he struggled to keep himself upright.

"I don't know but I don't think we should have made her angry!" his comrade yelled back.

 **"Goumon no Nima!"** (Garden of Torture) Sakura whispered to herself as she exerted the majority of her chakra into one of her most convincing wide area effect genjutsus.

One of the female shinobi screamed when the violent ground beneath them cracked to release pillars of wood that suddenly erupted from the ground underneath them. What followed next was even more terrible as thick, coiled vines with razor sharp thorns snapped out from the wood and wound painfully around each of the ambush group shinobi, locking them to each pillar of wood as they cried out in pain.

Soon pink petals began to blow harshly towards them, burning any eyes or skin that they came into contact with.

 _ **'Mokuton!** (Wood Release)'_ Miza exclaimed in her head at the sudden turn of events. Suddenly something clicked. _'Wait a minute, she's a Genjutsu user!'_ Gritting her teeth against the intense pain, Miza formed the hand seals for one of the most convenient Jutsus that she had for Genjutsu users. She had to do this or her men would probably collapse from the mental overload of pain.

 **"Raiton: Kaminari Numa!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Swamp) Miza forcefully slammed her hands on the ground to release the steady stream of electricity that spread all around the clearing, electrocuting everything in its path.

Her men all breathed in relief as the shock from the stream of electricity snapped them out of the incredibly painful Genjutsu as they fell to the ground panting heavily.

"Y-you broke out…" Sakura whispered in shock. One of her most powerful Genjutsu had just been effectively nullified. She watched the group in fear as realization struck that with the current still surging through the ground, practically all of her Genjutsu now served to be useless against these attackers. Although she had gotten admittedly better at Taijutsu and the use of daggers over the past month, they would be no use here so she was practically helpless against them.

Miza grinned sadistically at the pink haired girl. "You surely are a nuisance little girl. I would go so far as to say that you could quite possibly end up a threat to our village later on. I guess nobody would really mind if we went through the trouble of ensuring that a future like that does not come to pass, now would they?" The commander asked sadistically as she licked the blade of her trench knife again.

 _'No, I don't want to die here! I should at least be able to tell someone about Tenten!'_ Sakura thought desperately as she took an unconscious step backwards. _'And I can't fight any of them either. What should I do?'_ The pink haired girl's attention then went to the cat that was meowing in her arms as Tora looked up at its rescuer in fear. _'Wait, that's it! Tora's the mission. And I won't fail it, Tenten did not die in vain!'_ Sakura thought suddenly. So in her current situation, Sakura did the only thing she could do. And that was to turn around and start sprinting away from the attacking shinobi.

Miza chuckled evilly as she watched the girl run. "Mairo, Dura, Fuka. Go after her and bring her back to me. I'm feeling a little… excited right now." The commander ordered.

Both male shinobi and the kunoichi gulped slightly in fear at their commander's tone. It was no secret that their leader wanted the girl dead, but it also wasn't a secret that Miza was a very bloodthirsty individual and would usually lash out against those who failed their orders. Boosted by their fear, the trio set of into the trees in pursuit of the pink haired girl.

* * *

(Elsewhere)

Tenten winced as she tightened the first aid cloth tightly around her shoulder to stop the bleeding caused by her earlier encounter of the commander of the secondary ambush group, Miza. Due to her current situation, Tenten had been unable to watch over how Sakura was faring against the group. Tenten hadn't wanted to leave her friend alone like that, but making sure that she could still fight instead of rushing off to fight at a disadvantage was a logical idea.

Seeing that the job was done, Tenten gave a satisfactory nod before resealing her healing supplies and unsealing her giant mace once again. From her vantage point up high in the tree tops, the bun haired girl decided to try and gain a view of the events since her abrupt departure, but instead saw her teammate fleeing desperately from three shinobi that were hot on the pink haired girl's heels.

Tenten narrowed her eyes dangerously at the trio and did a quick assessment as to who posed the most danger to her teammate. It was quick enough since only two of the shinobi seemed to be actively attacking Sakura with lightning and water jutsus while the third member just seemed to be trying to close the distance with a kunai in hand.

As she focused on her two targets, time seemed to slow as they moved in slow motion. It was like focusing on a training dummy before the actual throw. All surrounding sounds were suddenly drowned out and her peripheral vision seemed to dim as her two moving targets seemed to glow a little as they were caught in a picture like state, hardly moving at all. It didn't take Tenten long before she leapt down at tremendous speed from her vantage point with her mace raised high.

In no time at all, the bun haired girl brought down the deadly mace with all her might combined with the mace's own pent up energy and momentum from falling from such a height. The lightning user didn't even have time to scream before his body was crushed from the blow.

Wasting no time at all, the bun haired girl dropped into a crouch to soften her landing before turning to face the kunoichi that had turned to face her with wide eyes as they hadn't even sensed her coming. Tenten raised her palm to face her new opponent and a seal on her wrist glowed bright as a lone kunai shot out and embedded itself up to the hilt into the second lightning user's forehead, causing her body to slump down lifelessly.

Still caught up in the adrenaline rush, Tenten was spun on her heels in preparation to chase after the knife user that had been chasing her pink haired teammate. All of a sudden, Tenten paused mid run. Her face contorted in horror as the enormity of what she had just done came crashing down upon her like a ton of bricks. The bun haired girl slowed to a horrified stop staring into space as her mace clattered to the ground. She had just killed. Not one, but two people in succession and had just been about to go for a third, almost disregarding the two lives that she had just snuffed out.

She tried to block the horrible images that came to her head, tried to refuse the memories from forever implanting themselves into her mind but it was to no avail. The memory was crystal clear and extraordinarily vivid. Every single detail on the scene at that time was burned into her memory and on constant replay. Their clothes. Their attires. Their stances. Everything. It was all forever marked into her mind and she was helpless to stop their assault. The most horrifying thing for Tenten however, was the look of absolute fear that the adult kunoichi had given her before the bun haired girl watched the life leave her eyes.

With all this running through Tenten's mind, she had lost track of her surroundings as she kept replaying what she had just done. Therefore she didn't notice when the rest of the squad had caught up with her.

Two of the shinobi grabbed and arm each as they forced her onto her knees to face an absolutely livid Miza. Tenten was then surrounded by the furious comrades of the two shinobi that she had just killed, but she didn't care. It was like she didn't even register that they were there.

"You've caused us too much trouble already girl! What will I say to the commander after this!? How will I explain that I lost two shinobi to a 'Genin'!" Miza spat furiously as her eyes practically radiated heat from her anger alone, marching up to Tenten all the while as the girl was restrained. Not that the bun haired girl needed much restraining in the first place.

"For just a Genin you're such a nuisance!" Miza yelled wildly as she broke into a run before slugging the restrained girl powerfully across the face, splitting the bun haired girl's lip in the process.

Tenten didn't even cry out as her head snapped back from the blow. Her head simply slid back into place as if on auto pilot, only to meet another punch from the enraged commander.

* * *

(With Sakura)

Sakura was breathing heavily. Whoever was chasing her was definitely skilled and persistent as they had been hot on her heels for quite a while now. Even though her stamina had greatly improved over the past month, she had already been wasting chakra to defend herself against the attacking group and at the moment was running low.

For some reason or other that she couldn't fathom, the constant barrage of lightning Jutsus that had been following her intently had suddenly seemed to stop a moment ago. Not that she was complaining but she could only assume that they had already run out of chakra, which was unlikely, or maybe they had decided instead to focus on catching up to her and had redirected their chakra output to increase speed. She would much rather appreciate having the first option though.

Despite her thoughts, she kept up her running speed, making sure not to falter at any point in between. Tora, in her arms, seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation and had decided to sit still and simply made sure that she didn't fall off her pink haired savior, something that Sakura was grateful for since that would allow her to focus more on the running instead of trying to multi task.

Doing her best to make sure that her movements were erratic and confusing for her pursuers, Sakura shot through the trees at speeds known only to experienced shinobi. She may not have been quite nearly as fast as her male teammates, but she was excused, the boys on her team just weren't normal, even by shinobi standards. Hope stirred up a little in her as she no longer registered anyone following her.

But that hope was suddenly dashed when a kunai found itself imbedded into her shoulder, causing the pink haired girl to scream as she lost her balance before consequentially plummeting to the ground. Sakura barely remembered to roll with the fall as she hit the ground so as to obtain minimum injury.

Coming to a stop, Sakura groaned as she sat up back of the ground, wincing as the pain of her new wound shot through her body. Concerned, the cat which had been thrown away found its way back to Sakura with a concerned look marring its feline features as it gently licked the pink haired girl's hand.

Sakura smiled at the cat before turning back to matters at hand and she proceeded to pull the kunai out of her back, biting back a scream. Almost as soon as the weapon was out of her skin, Sakura's hands began to glow green as she attempted to heal herself. Sighing in relief as the wound closed up, the pink haired girl began thinking about her next course of action. The wound would still have to get checked up by those in Konoha, but thankfully the wound hadn't been too severe or life threatening.

She was snapped out from her musings when the shinobi that had thrown the kunai appeared from behind a tree, grinning madly as Sakura backed up in fear.

"Give up," the man stated maliciously, "and I'll make this quick."

Sakura shot to her feet and a seal glowed on her wrist as a slim dagger shot into her hand. Tora seemed to be absolutely terrified and had latched itself firmly onto the nape of Sakura's neck. "As if I'll let you do that!" Sakura shot back defensively as she got into her dagger stance. This consisted of her gripping the dagger in a reverse grip on her right hand with her other arm held loosely behind her back facing in the other direction for balance. Her right foot was faced forward in the same direction as arm with her left foot also facing backwards for power to her blows.

Unfazed, her pursuer's grin widened when her realized that the girl was going to fight back. "Sorry girl, but I don't think you can catch me in a Genjutsu again." He stated confidently as he pulled out another kunai. "It's time for you to die. You nearly killed us all back there!" The man growled out in anger, his grin disappearing as he charged towards Sakura.

He managed to close the distance in between the two in a matter of seconds and their weapons met in a clash of steel. The man was a little disoriented when the jab he had been planning to make was effortlessly pushed aside. Trying to remedy his situation he brought the kunai back down in a slashing motion to at least try to cut the young girl. The shot was parried and the man's eyes widened a bit when Sakura used the opening to get in a slice that almost slit his throat had he not jumped back in time to make space in between the two.

Glaring at her the man decided to try another tactic and rushed towards the pink haired girl with a kunai in each hand. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously when the girl momentarily put aside the dagger before his eyes widened in surprise that she had done so only to form hand seals for a jutsu.

 **"Doton: Chikyuu Dangan!"** (Earth Release: Earth Bullets) Sakura cried out as she spat dense rocks of earth from her mouth towards the incoming shinobi.

Thinking on his feet just before the rocks could impact him, the man leapt up into the air before launching one of the kunai in his hands towards the Genin that he now really wanted to kill. It dug deep into her shoulder as it hit its mark and the pink haired girl let out a scream of pain. Before she could react further, the man had once again and kicked her powerfully in the stomach, sending her careening into a tree which she struck powerfully before sliding down the tree trunk, clearly dazed.

In the exchange, Tora had been accidentally thrown off of the pink haired girl and was watching silently from the tree line as it watched the exchange carefully.

Stalking up to Sakura, the man brandished the kunai he was holding extravagantly as he twirled it around his finger. "It's such a shame really." He started in mock sadness as Sakura tried futilely to stand back up, using the massive tree trunk behind her as reinforcement. "You could have grown up to be a wonderful kunoichi. It's just too bad that you had to be with an Uzumaki during this mission. You would have been doing what every other normal Genin does otherwise." He continued.

"W-what do you mean?" Sakura asked weakly. "What do you want with Naruto?" she asked again as she barely managed to get to her feet as sweat beaded her face from the effort alone. She wasn't even standing, more like leaning against the tree as much needed support.

The man snickered unkindly. "Wouldn't you like to know?" The man then narrowed is eyes when he saw Sakura desperately try to go through hand seals, even when he noticed that she found it far too difficult to be moving too fast. "Oh no, you don't." He scolded sarcastically before throwing his other kunai at the pink haired girl.

The deadly weapon struck her in her other uninjured shoulder, eliciting another pained scream from the girl as she was effectively pinned to the tree. Now bleeding on both shoulders as she hung from the tree, Sakura could only glare helplessly as the man neared her, obviously with intent to kill.

The man grinned once before slugging her across the face, hard. "Sorry for this, but it's time you realized you're a little too young to be living in this business." He said in a lecture like tone as he gripped her chin to make sure that he said it to her face.

He laughed maniacally when Sakura simply spit back defiantly onto his face. "Well, good riddance kiddo!" The man said cheerfully as he slapped an explosive tag onto her face before jumping back to make some distance between himself and the oncoming explosion. "It's over."

He made a dramatic show of covering his ears and eyes turning away from the scene as he awaited the oncoming explosion that was due to occur behind him. He frowned slightly when the time came and went, but there was no explosion. Turning back to his captive, he wondered why she was simply staring at him blankly instead of acting surprised that she was alive or terrified that she had come so close to death.

He froze however, when he heard her next words.

"You're right." Sakura said plainly. "It's over."

All of a sudden the man's vision swam violently and he was disoriented for a good few seconds before his vision righted itself once more and he started to see things more clearly. Suddenly he felt an immense pain in both of his shoulders and, to his horror, found that both his shoulders were bleeding heavily and had a kunai sticking out of each one. That and he discovered that said kunai also had him pinned to a tree.

Looking into the middle of the clearing he saw an unharmed, pink haired girl that was staring at him with a blank face and had a peaceful looking cat wrapped around her shoulders, as if nothing had happened at all.

That was when it hit him. _'Genjutsu!'_ his mind realized just as suddenly as it hit him that their positions had been reversed from before. _'Wait! If out positions are reversed then...'_ he suddenly remembered the explosive tag that he had slapped onto the pink haired girl earlier. And if their positions were really reversed then this would be a problem. A loud sizzling caused him to look down and his eyes widened in horror as his suspicions were confirmed. There on his stomach was a sizzling explosive tag, slowly burning away.

"All those things you thought you did to me, you did them to yourself." Sakura explained flatly as she looked at him indifferently.

"S-since when?" He asked desperately as he found he could no longer move his arms as they had lost all feeling to them.

"You were in a Genjutsu before you even hit me with the first kunai." Sakura replied with no emotion as she watched on.

"N-no no no!" The man shouted desperately as he tried to move his arms and rip away the explosive tag but to no avail. It was the last thing he would do since not a second later, the explosive tag did its job and erupted into a massive ball of fire and flame. It burst with enough power to completely shatter through the trunk of the tree that the unfortunate man had been pinned to.

It took almost a full minute of staring at the scene of the still burning fire before Sakura started to come to terms with what she had done and when it did, a cold sweat started breaking out over her body. She vaguely noticed that her hands were trembling violently. Upon bringing them u to inspect them, she could have sworn she saw her hands coated in red blood for a moment. His blood.

Even though she knew that she hadn't even touched him, even though he had practically committed the act upon himself, even if nobody had seen her do it. Sakura knew that that man's death was all on her. She had been the one who had trapped him into that genjutsu. She had been the one who practically controlled him into the situation. And she had done nothing to help him even after she had cut off the genjutsu. It was all on her.

The look of absolute fear he had given her before the tag exploded, that was one face that Sakura would never ever forget. It was a face that would haunt her dreams to come. She didn't even notice that she had curled up into a fetal position on the ground as the tears fell. She didn't notice Tora either as the concerned cat tried licking away the pink haired girl's tears.

None of it registered to Sakura. She could only hear the final scream that the man had given as his life was taken away, she could only see the look of sheer, unbridled terror on his face. But most of all, she could hear that nagging voice in the back of her head calling her a murderer…

* * *

(With Tenten)

Tenten's head snapped back once again under another powerful punch from Miza, the older woman still furious about the deaths of two of her comrades. The bun haired girl's lips were already busted and a black eye was forming on her face from the repetitive strikes that she was receiving in her captured state, but Tenten was still not responsive. The shock from her earlier kills not having worn off on her yet. She didn't even flinch under the threat of Miza's hits and it was like she no longer had a care in the world. Her eyes were glazed as they stared off at an object that none of the other could see.

Growing more and more frustrated at the lack of response, Miza took a moment to scream as she pulled her hair in frustration stomping in the opposite direction as she moved away from the still affected Tenten. "You killed two of my men you bitch! And it's as if you don't even care! I've had it! I can't stand looking at you! Just get out of my sight! Die!" Miza yelled ferociously before unsheathing her trench knife once again and blurring towards Tenten as fast as she could possibly go, ready to impale the girl thoroughly this time. In her haste she wasn't able to notice the red and black blur that shot towards her until it was too late.

* * *

(With Sasuke)

Sasuke cursed madly as he raced in the direction he had last seen the girls heading. They couldn't have been that far away. He had gone after them no more than a few minutes after they had disappeared underground and they were heading in the direction of Konoha last he remembered. _'Unless they took a detour or something interrupted them.'_ He thought grimly, hoping for the best.

He narrowed his eyes when he noticed burnt patches on the ground that looked like the tell tale signs of being scorched by lightning including a few shattered tree trunks and lop sided trees in the area.

His thoughts began to speculate wildly. _'This is bad. Sakura and Tenten only have fire and earth affinities. None of them had lightning such as these marks. And those trees were probably caused by Tenten's mace.'_ He analyzed carefully.

 _'There was a fight here between some shinobi, and obviously Tenten was here too. So why is it so quiet?'_ he thought to himself as he strained his ears to try and catch any sign of his teammates or their opponents. Not for the first time, he really wished that he was able to send out a chakra pulse as powerful as Naruto.

Just when he was about to give up, the distinct sound of someone shouting reached his ears. It was very faint, but it was a lead at least and Sasuke took off like a bullet. There were no sounds of jutsu flying around so he concluded that the fight was possibly already over, but what was with the shouting? It got steadily louder as he got closer and he could already start to make out a few words.

"…killed…men…don't… had it…" a female voice cried out loudly.

 _'Killed! Men!'_ Sasuke thought alarmed. Whatever was going on was definitely not pretty and he began to get slightly worried about the conditions of his female teammates. Those two words could have had any other meaning when the blanks where filled in and the worst case scenario was if the order had been given to kill off his teammates. The Uchiha grit his teeth. That wouldn't happen as long as he could help it.

"Just get out of my sight! Die!"

The next words he heard from an obviously older woman struck alarm bells in Sasuke's head. And it had come from somewhere almost directly in front of him which he couldn't quite clearly see due to a large bush.

Wasting no time, the red masked Uchiha summoned fire to both his hands and feet and felt the sudden increase in his muscle power and speed he blasted straight through the bush and into the clearing on the other side.

What he saw almost caused him to trip mid step. Tenten was restrained. And his teammate was hurt. Badly. That and Sakura was nowhere in sight and the Uchiha could only assume the worst due to the surprisingly large amount of shinobi present. Anger and hate boiled to the surface at his teammate's predicament and the flames on his hands burned even brighter without him noticing.

But what really almost made him trip was the fact that there was a woman charging straight towards his teammate with a large and deadly looking blade. Through his Sharingan, he caught every detail in slow motion. What struck him as odd was that Tenten didn't even seem to notice anything and had a glazed and faraway look in her eyes.

That didn't really help ease Sasuke's suspicions about Sakura's fate but he had more pressing matters at hand.

His eyesight glowed red as he focused on the lady that was charging his teammate and, without much thought, he blurred towards the running Miza with his fist pulled far back behind him readying himself for a punch.

A punch in which he didn't hold back at all as there was barely a blur before he was standing directly in front of a shocked Miza. There was only a millisecond as their eyes met before Sasuke let loose his punch towards her chest along with all the power behind it.

His plan to stop Miza from Tenten worked superbly as he had successfully halted the older female's charge. But it seemed to have worked a little too well. Their faces only inches apart, Sasuke could clearly see her looking at him with a horrified expression.

Sasuke looked at her as he tilted his head to the side in confusion, wondering why she was looking at him like that instead of being sent flying backwards. He knew how hard he could hit and the amount of force he had been charging up would have been enough to even send Naruto a foot or two back. And this woman was no Naruto.

He found his answer when he looked down to where his arm had connected and almost screamed at what he could see. In this case, more like what he couldn't see of his arm. Due to the excess power granted by the flames behind the blow, his entire flame covered arm had simply burst through the woman's chest coming out straight out of her back with little to no effort. The intense heat had almost immediately cauterized the gaping hole where her chest had been.

Sasuke looked back up at her face in complete and utter shock. He may have wanted to hurt her, but not to this extent! This was in no way what he had planned. And the look on her face was just terrifying. He wasn't even sure if she was still alive or dead because the way she was looking at him looked like a scene from a horror movie. There was blood leaking one side of her mouth as her eyes stared at him lifelessly. Sweat was clearly visible all over her skin along with the fact that she had gone limp. The only thing keeping her on her feet was Sasuke's arm that was still in the same position he was in after he had literally punched a hole through her. Once again Sasuke could feel his stomach clenching when he imagined the life leaving her eyes and quickly withdrew his arm. This caused her body to drop down lifelessly, the look of terror still plastered onto her face as her unblinking eyes staring straight at him. It certainly didn't help that he had taken all of this in through his Sharingan of all things, the image plastered more vividly and detailed than any picture.

The young Uchiha struggled to stay on his feet, staggering for a moment as a wave of nausea hit him. Sasuke almost dropped to his knees as the bile rose to his throat at what he had just done, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself.

Why had he done it? For what purpose? He had just taken another's life to protect Tenten… The realization literally slapped him awake. _'Tenten!'_ he thought desperately as he shot to his feet and whirled around to his face teammate.

The men restraining her seemed to be just as stunned as he was that Miza had been killed. She was their group leader, even if she was not the best, they still respected her enough to follow her orders. Stunned as they were however, none of the ones restraining the bun haired girl had yet relinquished their powerful holds. And that was something that brought Sasuke's blood to boil once again as he remembered just why he had killed. It was to protect his friends. And currently Tenten was so badly beaten that he almost couldn't see her face clearly through the thick layer of still freely flowing blood that was going down her face.

Swallowing the bile that had risen in his throat, Sasuke felt his determination rise. If killing here was what it took to protect Tenten then he would do so. There was always going to be time to regret it later, but he wouldn't regret it as much as letting one of his friends suffer because he was squeamish about killing. He would not let any of his comrades' die on any mission that he partook in. It would be his ninja way. Furthermore, he had a name to uphold. He was an Uchiha, one of the most powerful clans within Konoha and if he couldn't save his comrades, then he was a disgrace to his clan.

Once again flames burst forth onto Sasuke's hands as he steeled his determination. "Get away from her!" Sasuke roared as he started going through hand seals. **"Katon: Kakyuu Saakasu!"** (Fire Release: Fireball Circus)

Sasuke began punching the air at high speeds as he roared out the name of the Jutsu. One of the enemy shinobi was about to retort when fireballs were suddenly produced from every punch that Sasuke made and each football sized ball of flame seemed to be extremely well aimed, courtesy of the Sharingan that Sasuke was sporting. The accuracy at which he shot the fireballs was great enough to threaten Tenten's captors to release her to save their own lives while simultaneously ensuring that the Uchiha did not needlessly harm his friend.

The minute he noticed that they had dropped Tenten, Sasuke created a Shadow Clone that ran up to the bun haired girl. The red masked clone scooped up the still shaken Tenten bridal style before suddenly disappearing underground with its target acquired.

Nodding in satisfaction that Tenten was now safe, he decided to buy the clone some time to go search for Sakura as well as get the bun haired girl out of the way. He trusted the clone to get the job done because, well, it was basically just trusting himself since the shadow clone was practically him in all but body durability. The original wouldn't dispel from one hit like his clone.

Behind his red mask, Sasuke could tell that his enemies all knew that he was an Uchiha based on his Sharingan, and since no one was talking he could safely assume that they were done pulling punches as they slowly surrounded him, blank expressions on all their faces.

While studying his opponents, Sasuke managed to notice two dead shinobi that he didn't know and that he definitely hadn't killed himself. Based on their injuries, Sasuke could safely assume that Tenten had killed the two of them and suddenly he made the connection as to why the bun haired girl had been so out of it and grimaced slightly. Kakashi had warned them about that particular reaction that was termed as 'freezing up' and it seemed to have struck his teammate hard.

Counting one by one, he managed to get to a total of eleven opponents in total surrounding him and getting ready to attack. All except for two. The two odd shinobi seemed uncomfortable being were they were and seemed to be edging away from the battle ground ever so slowly. Sasuke sincerely doubted that their group even noticed the two but decided to leave it if they wanted to leave. That was just two less left to fight.

The young Uchiha was under no illusions that he could defeat every single one of his attackers as they greatly outnumbered him and despite being incredibly talented for his age, grown shinobi tended to have much more experience in the field which meant that he was in a severe disadvantage. It was a good thing that he only planned on stalling them long enough to make sure the girls were going to be at a safe distance away before he would try to either suddenly disappear in a strategic retreat or hope that Kakashi and Naruto finished with their much larger battle and came to aid him.

Either option would work, but he much rather hoped that Naruto or Kakashi would come to his aid instead of him running away. It would help make him look brave in the process if they stumbled upon him fighting this many ninja.

 **"Raiton: Raikyu no Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage)

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear)

Sasuke frowned as he leapt over the bolts of lightning that scorched the ground behind him before countering the lightning balls with a jutsu of his own. **"Katon: Kakyuu Saakasu!"** (Fire Release: Fireball Circus)

Once again blurring his flaming hands and shooting out fireballs with extreme precision, Sasuke's volley of fireballs managed to completely stop the oncoming lightning balls as they were snuffed out of existence.

 _'Scratch waiting for Naruto or Kakashi.'_ Sasuke thought grimly. _'I'll probably be running from these guys very very soon.'_

* * *

(With Naruto and Kakashi)

Right after Sasuke had disappeared after the two girls, things began to heat up considerably in the clearing that had suddenly been turned into a warzone. Kakashi and Naruto had unfortunately been forced to separate when a lightning bolt had crashed in between them and they leapt away only for the ambushing shinobi to filter into the gap that they had left behind.

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Grand Fireball) From his spot high in the air, Kakashi knew he was vulnerable to attack and immediately narrowed his sharingan eye towards three men that seemed to be running through hand seals. Not wanting to see what the result would be, Kakashi breathed out a massive fireball from his mouth that forced the three shinobi to leap away in fear of being scorched alive.

Once the masked Jonin landed he prepared himself to dash towards the three shinobi that had been about to launch the jutsu at him as they also prepared to meet with him.

"Halt!"

In response to the call the three mysterious shinobi suddenly froze in their tracks as they turned to face their commander who was strolling casually towards them with his hand in his pockets, much like Kakashi did nowadays when the usually perverted man was bored and wasn't read his book.

"Commander?" One of the shinobi asked quizzically.

"Support the others in capturing the Uzumaki. Remember, he is needed alive." The commander ordered his men. "That goes for all of you as well," he added as he looked to all the other shinobi that looked ready to support him, "I would like to see how I stand against the legendary Copy Ninja. Alone." Emphasizing the last bit to make sure that the shinobi under his command got the message, he turned back to face Kakashi.

The masked Jonin raised an eyebrow at the man that had basically just challenged him to a one on one duel with what seemed like utmost confidence in himself. He was slightly worried that all of the shinobi would be going after Naruto but he found reassurance in the fact that they needed Naruto alive. That and it was ten times harder to capture someone alive instead of killing them. Coupled with Naruto's unique abilities, Kakashi was sure that his student would be just fine.

But that left to question why they needed Naruto alive in the first place and why they would go through all this trouble just to capture him. It was obviously a planned assault as the ambush had been spot on. That meant that there was quite possibly a spy at the mission office in the Hokage Tower. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the thought but narrowed his eyes even further at what he had pieced together from the earlier conversations. _'They aren't just after Naruto!'_ Kakashi realized immediately. _'They're after the Uzumaki! That means they know about Yugiri and the others in Konoha and are waiting to grab one either to use as breeding stock. Or maybe they know about where the Uzumaki are hiding?'_ Kakashi's mind was running through all the options at a wild speed before he realized that the commander that had challenged him was still standing across from Kakashi looking at the masked jonin curiously.

Turning back to the more important matters, Kakashi glared at his opponent. "Who are you and what do you want?" Kakashi asked a little harshly, intent on putting as much aggression as he could into to his voice to match the killing intent that he had started to leak out. It was standard 'good guy' question he supposed that he had asked, but he had learned earlier that one should never underestimate the tendency for the 'bad guy' to monologue.

"You're wondering who I am?" The commander asked casually. "Well I'm surprised that someone of your stature hasn't heard of me, I don't know whether to be insulted that you ignored my rise through the ranks or to be amused that you appear to be clueless. Don't I strike as someone familiar to you at least?"

 _'And there he goes.'_ Kakashi laughed inside his head at his little victory. But then he began to focus more on the commander that seemed confident Kakashi would recognize him from somewhere. _'Let's take a look. Slim build, my height, black sandals, blue shinobi pants with yellow stripes, red jonin flak jacket, longed sleeved inner shirt, short gray spiky hair, blue eyes, tattoo on his… hand…'_ Kakashi paused for a second on the last detail of the commander that he had noticed since he knew that tattoo.

On the back of the man's hand was what resembled a red coloured hawk insignia drawn inside of a triangle. "I remember you now Xaxa." Kakashi said guardedly. "The now proclaimed Red Hand of Kumo, rose to quickly through the ranks shortly after the end of the third ninja war after leading three squads to successfully intercept a Konoha supply line which led to our retreat from Kumo's warfront."

The now identified Xaxa raised an amused eyebrow. "So you remember me now do you? You're not so bad yourself Kakashi. In the same war you also obtained your title by at the Battle of Kannabi Bridge which you successfully destroyed with only two squads of men successfully crippling the Iwa march towards Konoha and forcing them to encounter the Yellow Flash where thousands of Iwa shinobi were massacred. But enough of old times, if you remember my name then you remember what happened the last time we met over sixteen years ago?"

Kakashi sighed grimly. "Of course I do. We fought each other to a standstill while our comrades fought around us. When Kumo was forced to retreat you had to leave with them. But that was not until we swore that the next time we met would be a duel to the death to finish what we have started. I hope you've improved, Xaxa."

"Don't worry Kakashi, I can assure you that I have not been slacking off since then. I was a little worried about you however, why step down from being an ANBU captain? I was a little disappointed to hear that my rival had stepped down, I honestly thought that you were going into early retirement. Then now I see that you're leading your own team of cute little genin." Xaxa spoke conversationally.

"Never mind that Xaxa. Would you like to tell me why Kumo is after the Uzumaki? Something is telling me that you are hiding something big." Kakashi replied through narrowed eyes, trying to pry as much information as possible from his opponent before their duel started.

"Tsk tsk, ever the sneaky one Kakashi. I don't see why I can't give you the information since only one of us is walking out of here alive. If I kill you then the information I have given you will be useless. However, if you kill me then it can be considered your reward. But we can talk while fighting, can't we?" Xaxa asked.

Kakashi frowned a little at his predicament. He hadn't really gotten much information but this would have to do. "Yes, I suppose we can. Are you sure you want to do this Xaxa?"

"I believe that whether or not we will fight to the death was a question answered a long time ago Kakashi. Are you ready?" Xaxa asked as he got into a fighting stance pulling out a katana that began sparking with lightning.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the question. "Are you really supposed to be asking another shinobi that question?" The masked Jonin asked as he took out his own family sword that his father once used.

Xaxa shrugged. "No, but since this is the end of the road for one of us then we might as well start it fair."

After that no more words were spared as the two veteran shinobi stared each other in the eye, each waiting to make a move, oblivious to all the other action that was going on around them. They seemed frozen in time just staring at each other waiting for a sign of weakness. All of a sudden a stray lightning bolt from Naruto's crashed in between the two shinobi and just like that, they blurred towards each other, both their respective weapons crackling with lightning.

The two blades met with a resounding clang as sparks flew in every direction from the point where the two swords first met. Kakashi immediately went for a low swipe that Xaxa parried just as quickly before jabbing his sword forwards in retaliation towards Kakashi's exposed stomach.

The masked jonin jumped back just in time to avoid being impaled before blurring forwards again to try and cut Xaxa's head off. Unfortunately the commander seemed to be expecting this and easily ducked under the swipe before trying to slash at Kakashi's left side.

Kakashi whirled around faster than Xaxa expected and the slash he had made was promptly blocked before the commander was shoved backwards as a show of force from his masked rival.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) Xaxa called out quickly as a beam of bright blue lightning shot out of his mouth.

Kakashi tilted his head slightly to the side to evade the bolt of bright blue lightning that narrowly missed his head before setting up his own jutsu. **"Raiton: Raikyu no Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage) Kakashi called out as a multitude of crackling balls of compressed lightning shot towards his opponent.

Xaxa frowned a little before his sword began blurring in between the balls of lightning that he was unable to dodge, effectively dispelling them. **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** (Water Release: Liquid Bullets) Shooting off condensed balls of water towards Kakashi at blistering speed.

 **"Doton: Doryuuheki!"** (Earth Release: Mud wall) Kakashi slammed both his hands upon to ground to call up a wall of earth with four dog heads sticking out from the front. The deadly water bullets splashed harmlessly against earth surface.

Not one to let up his advantage Xaxa opened his mouth again to press forward another attack. **"Raiton Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness) The lightning bolt that erupted from his mouth effortlessly tore through the mud wall causing it to crumble.

 **"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet) Kakashi called out quickly from behind his crumbling wall.

Xaxa was taken a little by surprise by the sudden appearance of water dragon and leapt back to make some distance to give him a little more time to think of a counter. **"Raiton: Kaminari Hakushu!"** (Lightning Release: Thunder Clap) Clapping his two hands together forcefully, a visible shockwave of air shot away from the point of clapping. Upon contact with the water dragon, the water dragon shimmered once before bursting apart harmlessly.

Amidst the dropping water Xaxa narrowed his eyes as he tried to locate his masked opponent. He didn't have to wait very long.

 **"Katon: Housenka!"** (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower) A voice rang out as numerous fireballs made their way towards the commander.

Xaxa wasted no time. **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** (Water Release: Liquid Bullets) The water bullets shot out in response to counter the fire.

Realizing that his jutsu was about to be countered and possibly wouldn't be enough to stop the water Kakashi decided to reinforce his multiple fireballs with a little trick that he had picked up from his student. Although the masked Jonin could not use it to the extent that his student could it did mean that it was not effective. **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath) The large and sudden influx of air caused the fireballs to roar into life as their firepower more than doubled.

The strong gust of wind almost sent Xaxa flying long before the fireballs reached him. Realizing the danger that his liquid bullets would not be enough to save him, Xaxa decided to copy the Copy cat and reinforce his jutsu by adding another element. **"Raiton: Raikyu Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage)

The fast moving lightning balls caught up with the water bullets and merged together to form even larger, crackling balls of water with lightning visibly running through them.

The two techniques collided together powerfully resulting in an enormous and deafening explosion that shook the ground. There was a few seconds where the flames reared up towards the sky and lightning shot out from the sides of the now thick fog of steam that the two techniques had created. Both shinobi struggled to see within the dense fog that they had caused.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) Kakashi called out. Once again, the technique was not as devastatingly large as Naruto's house sized rocks, but a rock the size of a man was usually sufficient enough to kill. His student just like to overkill.

Acting upon pure instincts alone, Xaxa barely managed to leap to the side as a massive boulder soared past him from through the fog.

 **"Doton: Asu Supaiku Keimusho!"** (Earth Release: Earth Spike Prison)

Not liking the sound of the jutsu Xaxa immediately thought of the best way to escape before he was ensnared by the prison. What better way to escape an earth technique than by jumping up and away from the ground? Leaping up high into the air, Xaxa just barely managed to escape the clutches of what looked like a rectangular prison made of earth spikes.

Shivering a little about what might have happened had he been on the ground, Xaxa readied his next Jutsu to prevent himself from being impaled after his descent onto the earth spikes. **"Raiton: Jibashi!"** (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder) Overloading the normally harmless technique with chakra, Xaxa sent a massive surge of lightning that shot down towards the earth spike prison, vaporizing it to give the commander a safe landing.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact)

It seemed as if Kakashi had no ideas about letting him rest anytime soon. **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) The bolt of lightning that shot out of Xaxa's mouth then succeeded in shattering the human sized rock that was sent his way.

All of a sudden Kakashi dashed out from the remains of the massive rock and hurtled towards Xaxa with his sword already raised high and crackling with lightning once again.

Taking out his own sword, Xaxa managed to parry before the two once again launched into another viscious exchange of blades, neither one noticing as the fog from their earlier exchange had slowly been clearing to pave way for more visibility. Cuts and grazes began to appear on each of their clothing from the exchange but it was nothing major. The small cuts however began to slowly increase in number on each of them, unknowingly taking their toll on each shinobi.

After what felt like hours of their deadly dance but was in reality only a couple of minutes, the two veteran shinobi broke apart panting as they gave each other looks of respect.

"You really have gotten better Xaxa." Kakashi breathed out heavily.

Swallowing deeply to try and moisturize his drying throat, the commander nodded in agreement. "You're not doing too bad yourself Kakashi."

As they rested, the two then took a little time to turn towards the battle that Naruto was having. "You're Uzumaki Genin is extremely skilled Kakashi." Xaxa complimented with a little acknowledgement. "To be able to fend off almost sixty of my men. They may all be high chunin or low jonin, but that speaks wonders for your boy."

"Thanks for the compliment Xaxa. May I ask again what it is Kumo wants with the Uzumaki?" Kakashi pried a little.

"Ah, I did say something about revealing a little of the information as we fought." Xaxa smiled. "Very well, I'll let you in on what I know. I just want you to know, even though I was ordered by Raikage-sama to lead this mission, that Raikage-sama should not take the blame for this. Information came in one day that there was a group of Uzumaki sighted travelling towards Konoha. On the way they were sensed and targeted by a group of Kumogakure shinobi on their way back. The assault failed as only one survivor made it back to Kumo and reported what he saw." Xaxa started explaining.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow a bit when the commander told him not to blame the Raikage but decided to keep silent and continue listening since his rival was apparently feeling generous enough to offer this much information that would probably be essential to the Uzumaki guests currently in Konoha.

Xaxa continued his speech. "When the news got out there was temporary panic among Kumo's shinobi since they knew they were guilty for aiding in the destruction of Uzushiogakure during the Second Great War. If the rumour that such a large group of Uzumaki were moving around were indeed true and they still held the same amount of power as they did back then, then of course they would be scared fearing revenge."

"In Kumogakure, since we are more militarized, we have a purely military council that is very different from Konoha's council and they make all their decisions there. The main difference between both councils is that if the vote of the war council outvotes the Raikage's decision, then the wishes of the war council need to done."

"Our Yondaime Raikage however, is not like his predecessor in anyway. Although they both love Kumogakure, Yondaime will never resort to any foul acts that the Sandaime would have undergone. Therefore when the council cried out to use any means to search for all the Uzumaki remnants and where they were hiding, Raikage-sama could not disagree since he was outvoted and therefore ordered this operation. Raikage-sama's hold on his position is no longer very strong, there are factions that are willing to overthrow him and his more peaceful ideologies."

Kakashi nodded his head grimly. "So there might be an upcoming civil war in Kumo?" Kakashi summarized. 'This is not good, and that means they are aware of the apparent survival of those from Uzushiogakure.' Kakashi shook his head from those thoughts. He could warn the Hokage later on of these developments. "What do you plan on doing with Naruto anyway Xaxa?"

"Originally we were informed that we would get what information that we could get from any Uzumaki that we captured and then we would try to get them to either teach us the art of sealing techniques or if not then we could at least use them as breeding stock." The commander explained. Seeing the masked Jonin narrow his eyes Xaxa decided to add on. "Believe me Kakashi I don't like the sound of this or my part in it at all. I am at least relieved that the Uzumaki in this case is more than capable of taking care of himself and is male."

Kakashi breathed a little sigh of relief to know that the shinobi in front of him was an honourable man. It made him proud that he had the opportunity to meet such a rival.

Xaxa sighed again. "Although I suggest we finish this up quickly Kakashi. I left a secondary group in the forest under my second in command. She is a bloodthirsty individual and I am finding myself worried for your other three Genin. I can only hope that they did not run into her group on their way out."

Kakashi grimaced. "Thanks for the tip Xaxa. It looks like we have to finish this now huh?"

Xaxa smiled a sad smile knowing that one of them wouldn't get out of here alive. "I agree. Although I do wish that we had met under different circumstances Kakashi. We could have been friends."

Kakashi decided to honour his rival and pulled down his face mask to show Xaxa his full face. "Who knows Xaxa? There is a good chance that we could have been friends. Even ninja like us should have some form of honour and dignity."

"Thank you for letting me see your face. Let's finish this with one last attack Kakashi, one last attack where we give it our all." Xaxa offered. "No tricks, just so whichever one of us goes down, goes out with a bang."

Kakashi nodded his head at the challenge. Taking one last breath as the two exchanged smiles, they flew into their own separate hand seals.

 **"Katon: GouKaryuu Endan!"** (Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Bullet)

 **"Raiton: GouRairyuu Endan!"** (Lightning Release: Great Lightning Dragon Bullet)

Flames shot up into the air from around Kakashi as he summoned the gigantic dragon made of searing hot flames that blazed to life as it took the form of a dragon that roared loudly as it squinted its red eyes at its opponent.

Xaxa's dragon was no less spectacular. Easily matching Kakashi's dragon in size and ferocity, the white eyed dragon crackled loudly as its body crackled with lightning that coursed through its body giving it shape. Giving an almighty roar of its own it charged straight towards its fiery counterpart at blistering speeds.

The two massive dragons collided with a brilliant white light that illuminated the entirety of the surrounding area followed by a deafening clap that sounded almost exactly like the thunder after a lightning bolt. The blinding light cleared to show a massive wave of wire clashing with a constant wave of bright blue energy, constantly pushing against each other looking as if two tidal waves were clashing against each other.

Xaxa bent to one knee under the strain that he was putting on his body. The commander pushed all his remaining chakra to maintain the pressure of his lightning dragon and could now only hope that Kakashi tired before he did.

Kakashi grit his teeth when he realized that the two powerful techniques were apparently at a stalemate. The masked Jonin knew that neither of them would last much longer in maintaining such large constructs. It had suddenly turned into a battle of attrition, one such battle that Kakashi was finding more than a little too risky to maintain. The masked jonin could feel the Jutsu he was using quickly eating away at his reserves and he didn't want to risk the off chance that Xaxa had more chakra to win.

Sucking in a deep breath, Kakashi played one of his last cards. **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath)

The powerful gust of wind instantly came into contact with the flames that Kakashi was using to produce the massive dragon and immediately converted it into a blazing inferno that tripled in size and raw power. With the sudden increase in firepower, Xaxa could no longer hope to match the power of the masked Jonin's raging dragon and merely closed his eyes and smiled in his defeat.

He was still smiling when the inferno washed over him, completely incinerating the commander of the ambush force.

Kakashi dropped to his knees panting after all the effort he had just exerted into his duel with his rival and looked at the scorched ground where the commander used to be. Stumbling a little as he walked over to the spot that he last saw Xaxa in, a tender smile graced Kakashi's lips before the white haired man gently placed his face mask onto the spot he last saw Xaxa standing. "It was nice knowing you, Xaxa."

Kakashi was about to start reminiscing when suddenly an oppressive and terrifying aura suddenly filled the clearing. The aura alone was enough to send every single form of life fleeing the area immediately as the temperature seemed to drop to a chilling degree despite the sunny day.

And that was before the killing intent started to saturate the air, piling on by the second until Kakashi started feeling difficulty breathing. _'Naruto!'_ Kakashi thought suddenly as he whirled round to face his student. The last time he had felt anything even close to this amount of killing intent was when the Kyuubi had attacked all those years ago. If the ones attacking Naruto had done something to trigger Naruto into releasing the Kyuubi was a terrible thing if what Naruto and Sasuke had warned him about was true.

His horrors were confirmed when he whirled round only to witness two steel behemoths releasing terrifying roars. Kakashi recognized both the robots as Naruto's two gigantic, robotic transformations. _'Barricade and Bumblebee!'_ Kakashi shouted mentally. _'What the Hell is he doing letting them out? I told him not to let them out unless absolutely needed!'_ Kakashi scowled at the boy before he realized something. The killing intent that was coming off both transformers was massive and just made no sense whatsoever. _'What's got Naruto so mad?'_ Kakashi thought to himself. _'It isn't like Naruto to lose his temper and release it like this.'_

And that was when Kakashi noticed it. Both robots were bathed in what seemed like a red chakra cloak. But that wasn't the worst part. Instead of the usually blue, red or orange eyes that occupied Naruto's eye sockets, they were obsidian black. And those black orbs were glowing dangerously.

 _'That isn't good!'_ Kakashi noticed as he felt a little fear creep into his spine, the masked Jonin's instincts screaming at him to run. _'What's going on?'_ Kakashi thought as he had been too far from his student to keep track of the recent events surrounding him.

The two massive robots gave one last mighty roar to the heavens that threatened to shake the ground just as much as they inspired fear.

There was one moment of eerie silence and nothing dared to move. All of a sudden, Kakashi's eyes widened in horror when all hell suddenly broke loose…

* * *

 **Quite the cliffhanger we're leaving you with aren't we?**

 **Go on, keep guessing, you'll NEVER figure out what me and Yatsu have got planned for this. And don't think that we're gonna give you any hints outside of the story either, this is one of those things that I REALLY want to keep a secret until it's time to unveil it.**

 **Much like how I kept Darkeron's identity a secret for 40 chapters in my Kingdom Hearts story. Only to reveal him before throwing him into a fight with Madara. Go read it if you're interested.**

 **One last thing before I go:**

 **I recently watched the last episode of RWBY Volume 3. I'm on the hype because of it (The Feels man! The Feels!), and am now accelerating my plans for making my RWBY story. Just gotta make some changes before I get started, so keep a lookout for that, because it's coming to a TDDE theater near you!**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	12. Chapter 12: Dark Manipulations

Chapter 12: Dark Manipulations

* * *

 **Hello once more my wonderful fans! A new chapter has arrived courtesy of Yatsushiro Ryko! He's been a bit slow lately as tests have been a bit of an issue for him, but don't worry, he's not gonna stop anytime soon!**

 **That being said, I probably should worry about my own tests...meh, I'll be fine. I get good grades anyway.**

 **Unfortunately, there's no Review Time this chapter, there weren't any reviews that I felt needed a direct answer...now I'm sad...**

 **With that being said, let's get on with this chapter!**

 **Let the party begin!**

* * *

(Forest)

Sasuke growled as Naruto's logic made sense, and it was far too true. Tenten and Sakura could handle themselves against probably eight high level Chunin on their own, but what if there was more than that? "Naruto cover me! I'm going after them!" Sasuke declared as he started sprinting off in the direction the girls had taken.

Three of the ninja noticed Sasuke and decided to try and stop the runaway target.

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

All three of them were forced to abandon whatever Jutsu they were preparing when they were forced to avoid an attack that would have most likely ripped them to shreds.

"Where the hell are you guys looking? I'm right here morons." Naruto growled out in his deep, altered voice.

Kakashi landed down right next to Naruto as the remnants of Team Seven stood back to back in the middle of the valley, out in plain sight in a large clearing devoid of trees.

"Naruto, get your armour ready but only use your forms as a last resort. Keep it hidden for as long as you can." Kakashi whispered to his student.

"Haha, as if we'll need to." Naruto joked.

Kakashi chuckled. "Oh well, they're going to come at us full force now. Ready?"

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled out.

Together the two Konoha shinobi launched themselves into the battle.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact)

Naruto launched another one of his large earth techniques that shot towards a group of the enemy that had the blonde boy and Kakashi surrounded. It served its purpose well enough by acting like a massive bowling ball that forced the enemy to separate.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!** " (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear)

 **"Raiton: Jibashi!"** (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)

The ambush party retaliated quickly enough to the threat. Due to Tsuihogan, Naruto managed to trace the path of the waves of lightning headed towards him and Kakashi and cursed once he found their target. Acting quickly enough the orange masked Genin harshly shoved his sensei out of the way before leaping to the side himself to evade the bolts of lightning that impacted against the ground where Naruto and Kakashi had been standing previously.

While the distance between Genin and sensei widened, Naruto cursed again, suddenly realizing that the two of them had been separated. Inside his head the young Uzumaki wondered why he hadn't thought of pulling Kakashi along with him instead. Naruto suddenly shook his head to clear those thoughts and focus on the battle that was taking place. Narrowing his eyes the blond haired boy quickly analyzed his situation and took note of everyone's position on the battleground. Maybe there was still a chance to regroup with Kakashi?

Rushing towards his sensei Naruto went through a few of the possible scenarios that were possible of occurring and mentally ticked off the ones that seemed foolish. Being left with quite a few of the possibilities, the masked Genin hoped that at least he could get back to his sensei since it was always easier to fight with a partner by your side, especially in an area as open as the field that they were in. As luck would have it however, the worst possible scenario was the one that happened to take place. In other words, the ambush party had already filled in the gap and was slowly pushing the two away from each other. It didn't take long for the young Uzumaki to be surrounded on all sides by fifty nine enemy ninja.

The orange masked boy began to study his opponent's carefully while everyone seemed to be in a tense standstill as the glowing orange of his Tsuihogan met their eyes. Studying their chakra levels gave Naruto the knowledge that among the fifty nine, there were only around four Jonin level shinobi while the rest were Chunin level only. Then he again he was only a Genin, alone at that, so maybe the odds weren't as good as he thought.

The four Jonin however didn't seem to have as much chakra as Kakashi, speaking of which, Naruto looked a little further back before he noticed Kakashi in a similar standoff with another man. Naruto frowned when he noticed that both Kakashi and his opponent had around equal chakra reserves with each other and both being far above those of anyone in the clearing. Well, except for Naruto of course. But that meant that Kakashi was probably going to be locked up for a while.

But that wasn't the only problem. For some reason that he couldn't explain, Naruto was feeling a very powerful urge to just transform and completely pummel these shinobi. Never before had Naruto felt such a primal urge to just unleash pain onto all his opponents. But it wasn't pain by Jutsu that he wanted to cause, it was sheer pain bestowed by his own two fists. The feeling was very new for the cheerful blond and it took a lot of will power to hold back. In a shinobi battle the winner would be decided by the side that carried the better brains. Brutes that relied on power alone never got anywhere.

One of the Jonin that he had sensed within the enemy ranks suddenly spoke, breaking him out of his musings. "Give it up kid, if you come peacefully then we do not need to hurt you." The Jonin spoke gently. However Naruto could easily see the lie. Whoever this man was, he had some sort of grudge against the Uzumaki.

"Why do you care anyway? This is just one boy that probably doesn't even know shit. I mean seriously, it's just a genin." A Chunin enemy spoke up in a confused manner that immediately irritated Naruto. Not only was the masked blond annoyed by the grating voice of the clueless idiot, but he was being severely underestimated. This was further proven when several grunts of agreement were heard from around Naruto.

Sure, it was a large advantage on his part that they were underestimating their opponent. Naruto knew this. But he couldn't help the mounting rage that had been steadily building ever since he had caught sight of these men. Forming one hand seal, four puffs of smoke appeared around Naruto signifying the arrival of four clones that formed a tight knit circle standing back to back, their orange eyes glowing menacingly as they all stood in their unique fighting stance.

"Hahaha, you really are just some stupid Genin!" One of the ambushers mocked. "What use are clones in a battle like this when we clearly know which one is the real you? Illusions don't work so well here in the real world brat."

Each one of the Naruto's seemed to take the insult to heart and fueled chakra as each Shadow Clone began running through different hand seals, something which only the Jonin level ninja noticed causing them to narrow their eyes in suspicions.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact)

 **"Suiton: Houdan!"** (Water Release: Cannonball)

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Great Fireball)

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

 **"Raiton: Jibashi!"** (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)

Finishing their respective hand seals each clone shot out a destructive Jutsu of each element catching the enemy off guard with the variety. However some still firmly believed that it was just an illusion and raised their hands in the Ram seal to try and disrupt the chakra to dispel the illusion casted upon them. Due to this they were caught inside the Jutsu launched towards them, only then realizing the reality of their situation.

The large earth jutsu boulder collided powerfully with two shinobi sending them careening off into the distance as they were carried out of the clearing from the collision with the boulder.

The water jutsu had a similar effect on the lone shinobi that it connected with, smashing into his stomach with the force of a train and launching him a good ways away from the battle.

Noticing what happened to his comrades, one of the Jonin knew that getting hit by the fireball headed his way was probably not in his best interests. **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) he chanted out, spewing large amounts of water from his mouth to counter the raging fireball. The two techniques struggled against each other for a moment trying to outdo each other, hissing into steam before they nullified each other.

"Dodge the techniques! They are real!" The Jonin shouted out in warning to his comrades.

Paying heed to the warning, the other Chunin leapt away from the tunnel of visible, cutting winds that whistled their way. Less than a moment later the technique connected with the ground they had been standing on just a few seconds prior before burrowing effortlessly deep into the ground.

Frowning in suspicion the shinobi all leapt up from their new position as the technique erupted from the ground beneath them. **"Raiton: Raikyu!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning ball) Shooting the condensed ball of lightning at the incoming tunnel of wind proved useless as the ball of lightning discharged upon contact with the technique. "Damn it he's a wind user! All of us here use lightning!" The ninja shouted in alarm as they were forced to flee from the technique.

Lightning was not one of Naruto's four affinities, however, that did not mean that he could not use it to an extent. It just took a whole lot more chakra and control to perform, but the masked Uzumaki had plenty of chakra to spare. The only problem was that if you did not possess an affinity for that element, then you could only go so far in it. Naruto could perform a few of the easier jutsu of lightning but he sincerely doubted he could reach the extent of Kakashi's **'Chidori'**. That required an affinity to lightning at the very least.

But the lightning that surged out of his fingers was enough to warrant a threat to the enemy who wisely leapt as far back from the technique as they could.

"What the hell? This Genin can use all five elements!" Another shinobi shouted out in alarm.

 _'Not only that, each one of those jutsu was solid. No ordinary academy clone could launch Jutsu unless they were elemental clones. But even then, an elemental clone could only use the element that it was made of and it is impossible for a mere genin to have such high control for each affinity. Then that means…'_ The Jonin's eyes widened in alarm when he realized what was going on, _'That's a Konoha forbidden technique! That kid is using the Kage Bunshin!'_

"Men, these are no ordinary clones, they have high elemental affinities and intelligence separate from the original but they will all dispel in one hit! The original is the one who does not dispel after one hit!" The Jonin level ninja warned his comrades who all quickly acknowledged the information.

Behind their orange face masks, every single one of the Naruto's smirked. The Jonin had been right for the most part but missed out one important detail. These clones were indeed Shadow Clones, but they had enough chakra in them to activate the ability to harden their skin to form an armour denser than steel. It was a shame that he could only create four of them at the moment instead of an army of shadow clones, but it seemed that quality was more important here rather than quantity.

Someone else however, was not impressed in the slightest.

 **"Why are you holding back?"**

The deep and menacing voice resonated powerfully within Naruto's mindscape, causing him to freeze as his four clones began engaging the enemy in combat. It was a completely new voice, belonging to none of his current tenants. In all essence it seemed to drip with malice either matching or surpassing the venom in the Kyubi's voice. _"Who are you, what do you want?"_ Naruto demanded inside his head.

It might seem like such a stupid and obvious question to be asking, but there were always times when you're opponent would be even more stupid and actually answer your question.

 **"Who I am does not matter right now, what matters is the fact that you are not killing these men."** The voice stated matter of factly.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't going to find out who exactly the voice belonged to, but the issue it raised was enough to gain all of his attention as his eyes wanted. _"What!"_ Naruto demanded angrily.

The voice growled in response, **"You are holding back! Both your Earth and Water jutsu should have pulverized those shinobi that it connected with and that fireball should have been enough to vaporize that shinobi! Now answer me! Why are you holding back?"**

 _"I don't know what you are talking about!"_ Naruto shouted back defiantly in his mind.

 **"No! It is YOU who does not know what you're talking about boy! What's the matter? I've seen those techniques of yours destroy the landscape, these shinobi should all be dead by now? Do you lack the will to fight?"** The voice countered.

 _"No, I want to survive this encounter, of course I have the will to fight!"_ The blonde Uzumaki shot back.

 **"Then maybe you lack the resolve to kill?"**

Naruto's offense faltered for a moment silence prevailed, giving the mysterious owner of the voice all it needed to know. And when the voice spoke again, it spoke with a knowing tone in itself, seemingly amused by the revelation it had just encountered.

 **"So that is why, you do not wish to kill. Coward."**

 _"That isn't it! Just because these men attacked us doesn't mean that they have to die."_ Naruto argued weakly.

 **"You are simply saying that because you do not wish to stain your hands with blood. What type of shinobi are you? You think that these men did not come here with the intent to harm you and your friends? This was an ambush boy, an ambush. They were waiting here for you with the sole reason of attacking in numbers and making sure that there is no hope for you and your teammates to get away. And while your friends are in danger, you are sitting here simply knocking out the men that wish to kill them. Have you no shame?"** The voice mocked venomously. **"You want to lead a village but you do not wish to take a life. You think simply being the heir to a clan is enough for you to lead your people? You lack the very qualities that make a leader. Did you see any peaceful leaders?"**

 _"Yes, the Third Hokage…"_

 **"The peace loving fool? Do not lie to yourself. That man has been in all three of the Great Wars. How do you think he earned his title as the 'god of shinobi'? By preaching about peace on the battlefield? Foolish Brat! He was given that title by his enemies' fear of him on the battlefield! That man alone is responsible for the death of hundreds if not thousands of shinobi in his time alone! But the fact is, he did it for the sake of his village, his home. Yet you, in the face of danger still seek to keep your hands pure. What is your plan after knocking them all out anyway? Hoping that they will treat it as a friendly spar and everyone will simply walk away? You naïve boy, in this world it is and always will be kill or be killed. With your attitude right now you're literally begging to get you're comrades killed. I won't be surprised if some of them are already dead."** The voice lectured gravely as Naruto's eyes widened.

 **"And what do you mean they don't deserve to die? Don't tell me you haven't noticed their main affinity yet?"**

The gears in Naruto's head that were trying to understand the small speech came to a halt with the realization bestowed upon him. _"Lightning users…"_

The owner of the voice grunted, **"And which village is renowned for their large amount of Lightning users?"**

 _"Kumogakure…"_

 **"Well done! Now you know who is responsible. I'm going to let you in on a little secret as a reward, Kumogakure loves bloodlines, to the extent that they would literally rob them from other villages. Just because their village did not get the biggest percentage of bloodline clans didn't stop them from dreaming. Do you know how many have been caught and stolen? Your precious Hinata was almost one of them if you remember correctly. If not for Hiashi stopping the thief and Hizashi's sacrifice, poor little Hinata would be nothing more than breeding stock in that detestable village!"** The owner of the voice smirked when he could feel the rage burning hotter and hotter within Naruto.

On his part, Naruto's fists were tightly clenched with his eyes closed and his head bowed, his blond locks shadowing his face as his clones battled all around him.

 **"And you heard the commander a while ago."** The voice continued, **"This entire ambush force was dedicated to capturing Uzumaki and are authorized to kill any ones brought along with them. This group poses a threat not only to you, but to every single one of your friends and especially the other Uzumaki. You and Arashi would be subjected to torture and forced to give up the location of your people so they can finish exterminating the threat of your clan. Arashi would probably give them hell, but what if this group of seventy five shinobi encountered Kaede or Akane and they were caught? You practically handed them breeding stock and a subdued Uzumaki clan within Kumo. They would suffer a fate far worse than death itself! And to think that it was all because you didn't want to kill them over here. So much for a leader of your people."** The voice scoffed but was silently pleased as Naruto started unconsciously drawing on the Kyubi's chakra in his rage.

 **"Not to mention what else would happen if their teammates were caught in the crossfire as well, or yours for that matter. Their deaths would all be on your head. And that would be simply because you did not want to kill these monsters here when you clearly have the power to do so. Actually, I think you may have already lost a few of your teammates…"**

Naruto's eyes snapped open as his head shot up. Gathering up chakra he sent out another wide range Chakra pulse and his heart almost stopped with the information that returned to his body.

 **"You can feel it too can't you?"** The voice actually seemed a little remorseful.

Naruto didn't need telling. From what he could sense, Sakura was lying immobile on the ground with very little let in the way of chakra, there was no sign of Tenten, and Sasuke was far away from Sakura and going up against many shinobi with his chakra draining fast. Naruto didn't know what happened to Sakura or why Sasuke seemed to be a distance away from her and fighting a suicide battle, but he knew that if he didn't make it there in time then Sasuke was going to perish, his brother figure… And why couldn't he sense Tenten? His childhood friend from the orphanage should have at least been either fighting alongside Sasuke or taking care of a possibly injured Sakura. Then that meant she was… dead. The blond Uzumaki did not want to believe that word as tears slipped from his eyes, but there was no evidence against it. His friend was dead, the other was probably dying and the last had almost no hope of winning. And it had been because he hadn't gone quickly to aid them, because he hadn't killed these men that deserved death, because he hadn't wanted to kill and hadn't thought of the consequences.

A massive explosion of light occurred nearby seizing all the fighting in the clearing as everyone turned to see two massive dragons clashing for dominance before there was another blinding flash of light and everything was silent again. But that wasn't what had caught Naruto's eye. All that the masked Uzumaki saw in slow motion was Kakashi falling to his knees with an exhausted look in his eyes. The disheartening scene replayed once again before his eyes as he sensed Kakashi's dwindling chakra reserves.

 **"And there goes Kakashi."** The voice stated mockingly. **"And it's all because of you!" The voice yelled accusingly. "All of your teammates are hurt or dying because of you!"**

The words cut through Naruto's heart like a hot knife through butter as the grief overcame him, the voice's words echoing relentlessly within his head

 **"Tch, even with their deaths you are a failure."** The voice said disappointedly.

If the voice had had physical substance then Naruto would have been glaring daggers at it. _"What do you mean!? They're already dead! I can't even reach Sasuke in time! What do you still want me to do? It's too late…"_ Naruto replied as sobs rocked his body.

The owner of the voice smirked evilly. **"Take revenge. Kill these monstrosities that dared to attack you. This way they can take no more lives of your precious people."**

And just like that, Naruto's grief was instantly converted into anger and hatred, drawing even more of the Kyubi's power as he activated the first of his Celestial Gates. His enemies watched in confusion and fear as his body became shrouded in a bright blue chakra before becoming engulfed in a fiery red.

But that wasn't the only change. All four of the armoured clones dispelled instantly as the original began leaking enough killing intent to make everyone feel weak on their knees. And if they were afraid before, now they were terrified as Naruto split into two and both his bodies suddenly started growing to the size of giant's and transforming into something they had never seen before, moving masses of armoured steel that glared ominously at them through glowing, obsidian black eyes.

All life in the clearing suddenly froze in anticipation as the two gigantic masses of destruction eyed their prey.

Just as suddenly as the silence arrived, it was broken when the chakra coated Bumblebee and Barricade released deafening roars that chilled every human in the clearing to the bone. The ground beneath both steel behemoths cracked violently under the strain.

Time froze again for a split second before Barricade blurred forward at immense speed despite his size and crushed a man under the weight of his mace and Bumblebee leapt forward and the yellow robot's arm flashed forward, a sickening crack resonating from a man as the huge steel fist collided with his chest. The shinobi was sent flying a good distance away before crashing violently as his body impacted mercilessly against the sturdy trunk of a tree. Not stopping there the man flew straight through three more trees before his body stilled completely with no hope of ever moving again.

"What the hell is this kid!?" One of the surviving shinobi yelled out as he watched his comrades getting brutally destroyed.

The fear suddenly spurted the other shinobi into action as they began to try and subdue their angered target.

Meanwhile on the other side of the clearing Kakashi was watching in horror as his student began to mercilessly decimate their enemies. Kakashi cursed when he realized that he had used far too much chakra in his fight against Xaxa and was now unable to move as fast as he used too. He could only watch the monster that his student had apparently become. _'What happened to you Naruto? What could have possibly pushed you this far?'_

* * *

(Inside the Mindscape)

"Who was that voice?" Optimus demanded angrily. "And why couldn't Naruto hear us while it was talking?"

Kurama looked at the large robot seriously. **"I do not know. You heard the entire conversation as well didn't you?"** The bijuu asked.

Optimus nodded grimly. "And unlike Naruto we both know that that voice was faking its emotions. It succeeded in sending Naruto down the wrong path. If he carries on this way he will lose his way and may very well ending up as something other than the savior of this world. The cube chose Naruto due to his kind and forgiving soul and the cube is also aware that there is a prophecy in this world that a child with great power should be born and would either walk the path of dark or the path of light. So far Naruto has been following the path of light but ever since the introduction of this voice, he has been set on the path of hatred. Whoever this voice is does not seem to have good intentions if it has done this on purpose."

The massive Bijuu sat in thought. He could not deny that Naruto probably was the one that his father, the Rikudo Sennin, spoke about if the Cube had chosen him. But the amount of anger and sheer hate that was being released by the boy was a clear preview of what the world would suffer if they let the boy walk down this path. This hate did not belong in such a forgiving soul and although Naruto was one of the kindest people alive, he still had weaknesses and was susceptible to falling to the darkness. The Kyubi growled as the situation reminded him a little too much of the cursed Uchiha that he hated so much.

It could not be helped since love bred hate, but Kurama wanted, no, needed Naruto to let go of the hatred he was feeling right now. Kurama may have hated Madara much more than any other human, but Madara had been an honourable man until his little brother Izuna had been killed. Even after that the legendary Uchiha had gone on with Hashirama to create Konoha, but he still failed to remain with the light after the village he had helped to create turned against him.

The scary part was that Naruto had the potential to turn out even worse than Madara.

 **"How do we get into contact with Naruto Optimus? As long as that voice maintains his connection with Naruto, he cannot hear us."**

"The answer there is simple." Optimus replied as his arms converted into cannons.

Reading his mind Kurama grinned wildly. **"We cause a disturbance in the mindscape don't we?"**

Barricade decided that now was probably a good time to intervene. "And just how exactly are we going to cause a disturbance in here?"

"We fight." Optimus stated matter of factly as the large robot shrugged his shoulders.

Barricade and Bumblebee also decided to pull out their weapons as they faced the giant fox that was grinning wildly at them.

Kurama gave a deep laugh as he looked at his temporary opponents. **"Even if we share the mindscape, we cannot physically injure each other in here, but that doesn't stop it from hurting."**

Barricade grinned. "Perfect."

 **"Now it is time to take on the almighty Kyubi! Strongest of the… "**

And before Kurama could finish he received a barrage of blasts to his face as he yelped in pain.

 **"Oh it's on!"** he growled gleefully as he leapt into the fray.

* * *

(With Sasuke)

The Uchiha was not enjoying his current fight, not at all. No matter how powerful a Genin he was, and even that was in part due to his teammates and their superb teamwork, no genin could successfully take on eleven ninja who still had unknown skill levels. For all he knew they could all be Jonin.

 _'What an unfair fight.'_ Sasuke summarized glumly.

Suddenly his mind went back to Naruto and Kakashi's situation with the amount of shinobi that they were up against. _'Maybe the odds are a little in my favor.' The raven haired Uchiha mused. 'Then again Kakashi is a highly skilled jonin and Naruto has an unfair advantage over most shinobi.'_

A spark of lightning from one of the tree tops alerted him to an attack and he tensed for action.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) The shout rang out as three successive shots of lightning burst from the ninja's mouth.

Sharingan spinning Sasuke executed three consecutive back flips to avoid each bolt of lightning as each lightning bolt scorched the ground where he had been standing on previously. As soon as the assault ceased, the young Uchiha skidded back on the ground a little from his momentum before kicking up dirt as he blurred towards the source of the attack.

The shinobi in the tree widened his eyes as Sasuke sped up the tree and in his panic launched three kunai at the Uchiha in an attempt to delay him.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun rapidly as they offered the genin the proposed trajectories of the projectiles and the young Uchiha effortlessly knocked them off course with a kunai of his own before carrying on his path unheeded and appearing in front of the shinobi who was too late to move away and evade the deadly genin.

Summoning fire to his right arm Sasuke glared at the man with his Sharingan. "It's over." The Uchiha stated matter of factly before punching the man's chest with as much force as he could muster. The last thing that the shinobi saw was the merciless glare of blood red eyes with three tomoes in each one.

Sasuke didn't need to see the results of his jutsu to know that it was effective. The shinobi had been no different from their commander earlier and the fool hadn't even been smart enough to use a substitution jutsu to save his life, too stuck up in his fear. Sasuke still wasn't okay with taking a life, but he would live. It was either them or him anyway.

 _'One down, ten to go.'_ Sasuke thought tiredly.

Before Sasuke could think any further he was forced to leave his position on the tree as it was bombarded with more lightning jutsu. But even on the ground, he got no rest.

 **"Raiton: Hankon Raidou!"** (Lightning Release: Scarring Lightning Tunnel)

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the Jutsu. _'That thing is similar to Naruto's Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel. The differences are this tunnel is obviously made up of lightning chakra, and that the user is spinning inside it. A deadly jutsu, but it also has its drawbacks.'_ Sasuke commented as he analyzed the Jutsu that was slowly approaching him, slow from his Sharingan's point of view anyway.

Storing information about the jutsu away for later, Sasuke decided that it was about time he capitalized on the jutsu's glaring weakness. It was good for tearing down defenses, but because the user was spinning inside the tunnel then it would prove to be fatal if any opponent it was used against had common sense. Forming the single hand seal that he needed for the technique, the young Uchiha inhaled large amounts of air and focused chakra to his lungs before shouting out the name of the Jutsu, **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Great Fireball)

The large ball of flames spewed forth from Sasuke's mouth forming an incredibly hot inferno that had the capability to burn through almost anything within the vicinity due to its intensity. Unluckily for the user of the lightning jutsu, both him and his technique were caught up in the flames and incinerated almost without a trace. That was the weakness of the jutsu that Sasuke had noticed, although deadly in piercing power, it lacked any sort of defense if the user was attacked and the lightning jutsu could not pierce it.

Hearing the whistling of kunai and shuriken behind him, the raven haired boy whirled around and struck the weapons out of the air before his sharingan caught onto one detail that many other shinobi would have missed: the presence of exploding tags on the handles of the kunai.

Thinking quickly Sasuke substituted with a log and not a moment later the log was blown apart from the explosion that resulted.

From his spot high up in a neighboring tree Sasuke frowned underneath his mask, that experience had been a very close shave. _'Thank Kami for whoever invented the Substitution Jutsu.'_ The young Uchiha thought to himself.

"There he is!" One of the remaining shinobi cried out, alerting his comrades to the Uchiha's new position.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. _'That one was the one who threw those explosive kunai. Well, two can play at that game!'_ The young Uchiha spun around on the branch he was on as the shinobi leapt up towards him. Sasuke didn't leap away immediately but instead waited until the enemy shinobi was almost on top of him before he leapt away.

What the shinobi hadn't seen was that Sasuke had slapped an explosive tag on the underside of the branch before leaping off so he was completely unprepared when the branch he landed on exploded in a shower of flame.

Sasuke smirked when he heard the man's screams, evidence that his trap had worked. Stopping once again to turn around Sasuke frowned at what he saw of the man, or what was left of him. The entire lower part of the man's body had been blown apart but the man was still screaming in pain. Sasuke didn't want this. He may have been fine with killing but he would not torture anyone or give them such a slow and painful death. Even if the man lived he could no longer be a shinobi. So Sasuke did the one thing that he could for the suffering shinobi.

The man's screams stopped not a moment later when a kunai found itself lodged deeply within his head, ending his suffering. To Sasuke it was a merciful kill, quick and painless. If the young Uchiha died in battle then he would want to go down that way as well. Even if the ninja had been an enemy, both of them were still human and Sasuke didn't wish such a gruesome fate for anyone.

Returning his focus to the fight the young Uchiha decided to take the fight back onto the ground in the middle of a small clearing. It was harder to get ambushed while out in the open. _'There's still eight more of them and I have less than a quarter of my chakra left. Shit, this isn't going well. I might need to get out of here soon.'_ Sasuke calculated as he scanned the clearing.

His eyes widened when two shinobi blurred out of the tree line with swords in their hands charged with lightning chakra. _'This is bad.'_ Sasuke thought quickly. _'A kunai would be useless against such weapons, too small and made of the weak metal. I don't even know how to do that efficiently with my own weapons yet. Guess I need to use my sword for this one.'_

Sasuke unsheathed his Uchiha ninjato, its obsidian black blade glinting dangerously while the bright red crow symbol and the Uchiha crest practically glowed from either side of the blade near the hilt. It was just in time to parry the first strike so that the Uchiha could follow up and kick the shinobi powerfully in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

The second assailant was either more skilled than the first or more careful but he was good enough to engage Sasuke in a one on one duel. The clashing of their blades rang across the forest while sparks literally flew off the blade of lightning every time it connected with the obsidian ninjato.

Sasuke could tell that he was holding up quite well but he could already feel his arms going numb from parrying and blocking the blows of his physically stronger opponent. The Uchiha sword style involved mainly parries and dodges to allow lethal counter attacks aided by the sharingan, but that wasn't possible when your opponent was faster than you and also possessed an unreadable style of sword fighting.

His opponent seemed to favor slashing a lot but Sasuke had quickly noticed that his opponent's blade was always tilted at a certain angle that would allow the enemy shinobi to impale or disarm Sasuke if he wasn't careful. This led them to a pretty much even stalemate since Sasuke was mostly defending and the opponent was on the offensive. But Sasuke knew that he couldn't keep it up much longer with how hi arms were faring. That and the shinobi he had kicked away earlier had made another sudden entrance into the battle and Sasuke had barely avoided getting bisected by the surprise attack.

The young Uchiha leapt back up into the trees studying his two opponents while they in turn glared back up at him with hatred. He couldn't really blame them; he alone had killed around four of their comrades already. The standoff continued for another few minutes before Sasuke began running through hand seals again.

 **"Katon: Housenka!"** (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower)

A multitude of smaller fireballs erupted from Sasuke's mouth as he fired them up from his vantage point like a sentry.

The first swordsman chuckled in amusement before running through his own hand seals. **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** (Water Release: Liquid Bullets) Multiple condensed bodies of water flew out of the ninja's mouth impacting solidly against the fireballs and cancelling them out and effectively creating large amounts of steam that also blocked their view of the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked when he saw his plan work yet again, Kakashi's lessons regarding strategy were indeed useful in real life battle. It was a shame that some shinobi thought that everything was about power. _'Even a Genin given the right mind and tools can take down a careless Kage.'_ Sasuke recited his sensei's words in his head before moving onto phase two of his plan, the fireballs had only been part one.

The first swordsman was so caught up in blocking the fireballs with his water jutsu that he did not notice the kunai and shuriken that were following closely behind the fireballs. Sasuke had expected the man to use a water jutsu and while normally kunai and shuriken would not go through a fire or water jutsu, they could go through steam quite easily. The first swordsman never knew what hit him, only that his vision had suddenly been going dark for some reason.

The second swordsman however had not been preparing any sort of counter jutsu and although shocked about the appearance of the projectiles, was able to use his lightning coated sword and deflect all of them.

When the onslaught of projectiles ended the second swordsman cautiously watched the steam in front of him as he warily watched it slowly disperse in case of another attack. It was because of his focus on the steam that would prove to be his downfall as he did not pay attention to his other surroundings.

The ground behind him suddenly exploded violently as Sasuke erupted from underground. Faster than the older shinobi could react, Sasuke plunged his ninjato straight through the ninja's back, making sure to impale both a lung and the heart.

The lightning on the swordsman's sword slowly died out as the shinobi coughed up blood and fell on his knees. "How?" he asked weakly.

Showing a little respect to the fallen warrior Sasuke explained briefly. "I used the fireballs to distract you as there were kunai behind them. When your friend used his water jutsu it became steam and the kunai appeared out of the steam quickly enough to get your attention. By this time I was already underground using the hidden mole technique."

The older shinobi nodded before he coughed up once more and fell lifelessly to the ground.

Sasuke stared at the body for another minute as he panted heavily. _'Damn it! Damn it to hell!" Sasuke cursed. 'There's still six of them left and I'm almost out of chakra! So these are my limits without my teammates.'_ The Uchiha thought glumly.

Thinking about a tactical retreat the Uchiha decided that he had given his clone enough time to put some distance between them and their ambushers. The young Uchiha stretched his senses for a moment and when he couldn't sense any of the remaining six shinobi, Sasuke slowly sank into the ground, confident of his quick escape.

Closing his eyes as he sank into the ground Sasuke began extending his senses into his surroundings. This jutsu he admitted was very handy to know, although quite unusual. Once the user was submerged into the ground, all the other senses were somehow shut down as they started burrowing through the ground. The only thing you felt was the positions of whatever was above the ground due to feeling the vibrations or from simply sensing their chakra. For some reason if you were underground it was possible to sense the chakra of those above you but you were invisible to the majority of chakra sensors if you were underground.

That was why the masked Uchiha was startled when he sensed the presence of four shinobi above him and one seemed to be going through hand seals based on the buildup and molding of chakra that Sasuke could sense. _'Impossible! They can't know exactly where I am! Can they?'_ he thought to himself unsurely.

He was proven wrong however when he felt as if all the nerves in his body were being fried. The pain was unbelievable and Sasuke could already feel his muscles going numb. He didn't know what was happening but whatever it was, he didn't like it one bit.

Using common sense, the young Uchiha changed his direction and shot back up towards the surface. No less than a second later Sasuke erupted out of the ground into the air. However, he had forgotten that he was still a little disoriented having just come from underground and was vulnerable for a minute as his eyes stabilized to the surroundings. His eyes recovered quick enough to notice a kunai come flying straight towards his head.

In desperation Sasuke tilted his head to the side just enough for the kunai to graze his cheek and draw blood. Unfortunately for him, he had been so focused on the kunai that he completely missed the man that had just body flickered behind him.

The young Uchiha almost had no idea what was happening. One minute he was dodging a kunai and the next second his vision, even through the sharingan, was blurring badly and he felt himself stumble forward. He was given no chance to recover however as the shinobi that had thrown the kunai earlier took advantage of his predicament and punched him powerfully in the face with a right hook.

What followed next was mostly just a blur for the masked Uchiha. The only constant was the pain that seemed to collide with his body from different angles as he felt himself getting tossed around.

A dull ache was slowly building up across his body as he felt the consecutive blows from an untold amount of attackers. Who knows, with how things were going he was probably dead at the moment. That was such a saddening thought, dying without really achieving anything.

The next thing that the masked Uchiha registered was his back slamming into something hard and solid before he slowly slid down onto the ground. His vision started to clear as he gazed up to get a reading on his surroundings. Thankfully whatever punishment he had received had ceased for some reason or other and he was wondering why. Not that he wanted it to continue but one did not suddenly stop an attack when they had the advantage. His eyes widened upon the information that he received.

Sasuke discovered that he had crashed into one of Fire Country's large tree trunks at the end of the brutal assault and was currently leaning rather helplessly on the tree trunk, but that wasn't what concerned him.

Right in front of him were four of the six remaining shinobi and the reason they had halted their attack became clear as day as Sasuke watched all four of them simultaneously going through hand seals. They were going to end it. _'No!' Sasuke thought defiantly. 'I am not going down like this!'_

Summoning lightning chakra to the tenkutsu on his throat, Sasuke built up the energy required for the jutsu in seconds. It wasn't going to be a very powerful jutsu due to the limited time frame that he had available but it would buy him some time. And right now, that was what he needed most. **"Raiton: Raikyu!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball)

One of the four shinobi got hit by the brunt of the technique head on as he had been too focused on the hand seals that he was performing to concern himself with his surroundings. Normally the jutsu that Sasuke had just used would have been enough to kill a man, but the weakened jutsu had been just enough to completely paralyze the man in question.

Sasuke smirked, in their worry for their comrade the other three enemy shinobi had abandoned their hand seals in favor of checking up on their friend's fate. Big mistake. This was exactly what Sasuke had wanted, they were all gathered and distracted and the young Uchiha could finish them off in one go! This time Sasuke gathered all of his remaining chakra, which wasn't that much left, and pushed it all outward in a sea of flames. **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire)

Unfortunately, the three distracted shinobi were alert enough to leap away from the intense flames and up into the tree branches at a second's notice but their paralyzed comrade could do little else other than widen his eyes and scream as the burning flames consumed him. The three that jumped away however did not get away unscathed as each one sported third degree burns where the flames had managed to lick them greedily.

After ending the technique Sasuke literally collapsed back against the tree as he slumped down into an undignified heap with his back against the tree trunk. Sasuke once again watched the enemy shinobi as they prepared another jutsu. This time however, he was truly helpless. _'Damn it all, the plan didn't work. There's like five of them left and I have no chakra left, not even enough to get away. I don't even have any of the soldier pills, I left them all with Tenten.'_ Sasuke panted heavily as he mentally ticked off options in his head. _'It's over now, sorry Naruto, I won't be there to be Hokage along with your village.'_ Sasuke thought glumly as he closed his eyes in resignation. There was no longer any way that he could get out of this situation. _'At least Tenten and Sakura are safe.'_ He thought happily. At least his death would not be meaningless. _'Goodbye, Mum, Itachi, Naruto. Take care.'_

 **"Raiton: Zekkyou Washi!"** (Lightning Release: Screaming Eagle)

Three piercing screams filled the air as the three separate jutsus each roared to life, shaping themselves into three human sized eagles that glided around their users for a moment before diving straight towards the helpless Uchiha.

Sasuke opened his eyes, determined to meet his death head on. _'What an interesting technique, this is going to hurt.'_ He joked a bit in his head.

Less than a moment later there was a blinding flash of light and a deafening explosion as the three lightning jutsus made contact. It was bright enough that even the three users raised their arms to shield their eyes from the tremendous amount of light that the blue explosion had caused.

Sasuke was once again unsure of what had happened. The eagles had been directly in front of him, screeching loudly in his face before they exploded. The amount of light blinded his sharingan as his ears began ringing as a result of the close range explosion.

Strangely enough however, he felt very light. It was almost as if he was floating in space. The ringing was slowly starting to fade away while his vision was a startling white that showed blurry outlines as everything started to solidify. His stomach was also doing somersaults as his legs felt numb. Was this how it felt like to be dead?

His answer was given a moment later when his vision cleared and he managed to recognize the back of a bun haired girl wearing a black outfit with dark purple sleeves standing defensively in front of him. That alone already confirmed her identity. But the most noticeable trait about her being was the enormous mace that the girl carried, and especially the way that it was practically glowing a magnificent blue.

"Tenten?" Sasuke asked weakly. "What are you doing here? My clone was carrying you away."

The bun haired girl snorted. "Saving you of course. Why else?" She asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The three shinobi up in the tree were more than surprised at the sudden change of events as they leapt down to try and finish the job. They had lost far too many comrades to the red masked Uchiha alone and they weren't about to let him get away.

The young Uchiha quickly took in his teammate's previously beaten up face was now healed and perfectly fine save for a few streaks of dirt here and there as she stood her ground against the oncoming attackers. He quickly concluded that Tenten had at least met up with Sakura and that his pink haired teammate was fine. But then where was she?

Out of nowhere a steel arrow embedded itself into the neck of one the charging shinobi, causing him to gurgle and clutch his neck as he fell to the ground.

Sasuke smirked. Well then that answered his question. The only shinobi he knew to use arrows was Sakura.

The two remaining shinobi however were not amused as they immediately halted in their tracks, wary of the surrounding forest. Pausing however turned out to be another big mistake as Tenten closed the distance between them at an insane speed.

"Batter up!" Tenten declared cheerfully before slamming her oversized mace into the older shinobi like a baseball bat. The mace itself had already stored up an enormous amount of energy from absorbing the three lightning eagles earlier. Combine that with the fact that the mace was incredibly heavy and large you get a recipe for disaster. Her target stood no chance as that one blow completely obliterated him from the face of the earth.

The last shinobi's eyes now widened in fear at the display of power, this was unbelievable from three kids. He had lost his squad of fifteen shinobi to three genin. That either spoke volumes about their power or his group's incompetence as shinobi. The last ambusher liked to think that he and his comrades had at least been decent ninja. There was only one option in his mind right now, retreat and possibly escape alive. Commander Xaxa would probably forgive him anyway, his part in the mission had not been a primary objective and the commander was an understanding man anyway.

Turning around in preparation to flee, the last shinobi was not expecting to come face to face with blood red sharingan eyes with three tomoe spinning rapidly within them. As sudden as the devil eyes had come, the last shinobi lost all feeling to his body. Looking down in horror the shinobi saw something which he dreaded to see. A flame covered fist had pierced straight through his chest, much like what had happened to Miza, his recent leader. But how was this possible? The boy had been pretty much helpless a minute ago. Unfortunately for him, the man would take the question with him to the grave as the light in his eyes dimmed.

Sasuke's shadow clone nodded in satisfaction before giving his original a wave and an eye smile, eerily reminiscent of their current sensei. The young Uchiha had to wonder why his shadow clones always seemed to have personalities of their own. Aside from that he was still denial and shock, he had been inches away from death before he had been saved and it was a great feeling. No wonder why rescued hostages often became attached to their rescuers.

"Come on Sasuke-kun, get up a little." Sakura suggested gently from behind him.

The young Uchiha complied and breathed a sigh of relief when a soothing chakra entered from his back, slowly healing the injuries that he had sustained. Thank Kami for them having a medic. "Sakura, nice to see you're okay. I didn't see you a while ago." Sasuke started as he relaxed for a minute.

"I was chased somewhere else after I thought they killed Tenten. I ended up killing the guy that was chasing me." Sakura's voice wavered for a moment and her chakra control slipped a little.

The meaning was not lost on Sasuke, both the girls and him had gained their first kill today. He liked to think that he was dealing with it well but he wasn't too sure. At least he had found a reason to fight and kill. He wasn't too sure how they were dealing with it but it probably wasn't that bad considering they had just killed to save him.

"Well how are you two holding up?" Sasuke asked carefully as Tenten took a seat next to him.

Tenten frowned a little before answering. "I'm fine…ish. I remember freezing up for a while there and then the next thing I knew I was hugging Sakura and then coming back to get you when I realized that the Sasuke with me was just a clone." The bun haired girl admitted as she sealed away her mace.

"I'm fine too." Sakura replied afterwards. "I was crying for a while until Tenten saw me. I guess I was just glad she was alive and snapped out of it." The pink haired girl added.

"What about you Sasuke?" Tenten asked as she turned to face him. "I kind of remember you killing the female commander in front of me, and you've obviously been busy while we were away."

"It wasn't really a big deal. I mean it was… scary, but I didn't want either one of you to get hurt or killed so I tried to fight and survive while buying you guys time to get away. Too bad my escape plan failed miserably." Sasuke chuckled a little before he stilled, his eyes furrowed in concentration.

"Wait a minute." He ordered slowly as he leapt up to his feet and on alert despite Sakura's protests as she tried to heal him. "After I killed the commander, there were eleven shinobi left here." He did some quick math in his head recounting his recent battle. "I killed six of them before I ran out of chakra so there were five left. Then Sakura got one and you got the other while my clone got the third. That means that there are two more around us here!" Sasuke stated in alarm as he came to his conclusion.

Instantly the team was up on their feet and back to back as they scanned the forest around them. They almost jumped when Tora meowed from Sakura's neck. The cat had been so quiet up until that point that they had all forgotten about it.

"Let's head back to Naruto and Kakashi." Sasuke suggested suddenly, his eyes still trained on his surroundings.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke-kun, there was a large battle going on there and we were told to run away."

Sasuke scoffed at the reminder. "Yeah, whatever. But I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen and that we need to be there."

If the situation hadn't been so tense Tenten would have rolled her eyes. "Yes boss, but what about the other two here? Do you think they fled?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Maybe, maybe not. But one thing I do know is that they had a chance to attack us while we were distracted but they didn't. That either means that they don't want to attack or can't."

"Then let's head back to Kakashi-sensei, the faster we get there the better." Sakura suggested.

At Sasuke's nod the trio blurred away from the field, never noticing the two figures watching them.

"Should we follow them?" one of the two asked his comrade.

"I don't know. Maybe if we follow them and they sense us then they might turn around and kill us like they did with the others here. Or maybe they will spare us because we didn't attack them only to kill us later on when they find out that we were part of the group that attacked them. Then they will torture us for almost killing them before sending our mutilated corpses back to Raikage-sama who get angry at Konoha and then the Fourth Shinobi war will start and then…"

"Shut up Omoitsu!" his partner almost snarled. "I just asked if we should follow them."

"I am sorry Karuiki." Omoitsu replied. "We would probably die when they notice us and recognize who we are."

"If. If they notice us." Karuiki emphasized with a smile.

Omoitsu smiled back at his long time friend. "If they notice us."

Chuckling to themselves the two friends set off after the trio.

* * *

 **And done! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I did.**

 **You all can take a guess as to what the dark voice was, but you'll NEVER get it! This is something that I had planned in the creation of this story idea, meant to appear towards the end of canon, like Fourth War canon.**

 **So...I hate to do something like this, but can I get some of you to check out my new story? I don't want to look like I'm begging you to look, but it's a bit barren in the views and reviews, I really want to see some feedback on it.**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


	13. Chapter 13: Madness Lifted

Chapter 13: Madness Lifted

* * *

 **SURPRISE! Double chapter's today!**

 **Yatsu managed to send me two chapters! Everybody send him your thanks for all of his hard work!**

 **Now then, since there's nothing actually to say, let's start the chapter.**

 **Let the party begin!**

* * *

(Back with Naruto)

"Everybody split into squads A, B, C and D!" One of the four Jonin level shinobi yelled as he desperately tried to organize his comrades. He winced as Bumblebee pounded another of the men into the ground.

"Fourteen into each squad! Squad leaders are Daichi for squad B, Kairi for Squad C, Kage for squad D while I am for squad A! Now fall back and switch to long range tactics!" The Jonin ordered further as him and his remaining men leapt into formation and away from the two raging behemoths.

"Orders Hiro." Daichi asked forcefully as all four Jonin grouped together.

"Squad A and B, primary objective is close to medium range assault! Keep the target's attention on your groups and use diversionary tactics! Squads C and D long range support and crippling jutsu permitted but non-fatal! Squad C and Squad A will deal with the black one, Squad D and B deal with the yellow. Bring those two down!" Orders rang out from Hiro once again as the men all voiced out their acknowledgement of the orders.

"Squads A, on me!" Hiro yelled as he bravely charged towards the large black robot dubbed as Barricade.

The large robot however did not seem happy that its opponents were rallying and went through a few hand seals at a blazing speed. **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) A massive boulder came out of nowhere and hurtled towards the group of shinobi at great speed.

"Squad C cover fire!" Kairi ordered as she and her squad ran through their own hand seals.

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) Fourteen voices rang out in unison. It took less than a second for the simultaneous blasts of lightning to converge into one large bolt strong enough to blow apart the incoming rock.

Hiro and his squad did not have enough time to thank their comrades as they continued their advance towards the massive robot that was also charging towards them.

To Hiro's right Hiro made a signal and a trio of shinobi from his squad dashed forward ahead of the rest to try and obtain Barricade's attention. Their ploy worked as the transformed Naruto swung his mace towards the group in a one handed group.

One of the shinobi ducked under the mace while the other two leapt over it and carried on running up Barricade's arms.

The massive construct of steel violently swung his right arm, flinging of the shinobi attached to it before violently stomping on the one that had gone under his mace. The third shinobi however had been unhindered and made it next to Barricade's face. Summoning chakra to his arms, the third shinobi's hand filled with lightning. **"Raiton: Kanden Hirateuchi!"** (Electrocuted Slap) he yelled as he brought his hand down onto Barricade's face.

There was a flash of light as the jutsu made contact before the shinobi screamed in pain.

Hiro looked up in horror at his subordinate as the man screamed in pain with his entire right arm missing, clutching where the arm should have been while Barricade's face was unscathed. The third shinobi didn't scream for very long before Barricade snatched him of his shoulder and threw him onto the ground with a sickening crunch. Any hope of survival was then lost on the shinobi as Barricade brought his mace down onto the screaming man as the shinobi tried futilely to get up, ending his life.

Hiro suddenly made the connection. "Alert! No contact Jutsu! I repeat no contact Jutsu! Target has some sort of reflective properties on armour!" The commander of squad A yelled out as he and his men pulled back.

Hiro turned to the rest of his squad as Barricade once again fixed his obsidian black orbs onto his group. "Lethal attacks enabled! Delay that beast and bombard it with every Jutsu you know!"

"But sir, we're not supposed to fatally injure…"

"If you don't want to die then I suggest you follow your orders!" Hiro snapped as he ran through hand seals. "And even then I don't think either one of these things will go down easily. Squad C, support!"

Both squads began running through hand seals as Barricade readied his mace for another streak of killing.

 **"Raiton: Kaminari Numa!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Swamp) Five voices called out as the others continued their hand seals.

Lightning arced out from the ground towards the steel titan and everyone expected it to jolt to a stop from the power of the technique. Just one person could usually paralyze ten shinobi within the swamp of lightning. That was why when five of them contributed the technique they were expecting the robot to suffer. That however was not the case and their eyes widened when the robot carried on its charge unhindered. What was this beast?

 **"Raiton: Raikyu Danmaku!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Barrage)

 **"Raiton: Gian Yari!"** (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear)

 **"Raiton: Jibashi!"** (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)

 **"Raiton: Zekkyou Washi!"** (Lightning Release: Screaming Eagle)

The multitude of powerful techniques were all shot towards Barricade in the space of a few seconds, each one filled with as much chakra as each of the contributors could offer. There was enough attack power present to cripple a mountain as the whole clearing shook with the power of the resulting explosion as they waited with bated breaths the result of their trouble.

Once again their eyes widened in fear when Barricade burst out of all the smoke unharmed as he rushed towards them running through hand seals. **"Fuuton: Hari Arashi!"** Barricade's voice boomed menacingly as thousands of invisible needles of wind formed in front of him. On some unseen signal the multitude of needles burst forward at great rate towards Squad A.

 **"Raiton: Kaminari Shouheki!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Barrier) Hiro cried out in time as he slammed his hands onto the ground. A large vertical wall of lightning shot up in front of him and three others, effectively shielding them from the onslaught of needles.

Unfortunately Hiro could not make the barrier any bigger and was forced to watch as eight of the men on his squad were struck with an untold amount of invisible needles that went straight through their defenseless bodies. The commander of squad A frowned in frustration. They were getting slaughtered here against what was supposed to have been a single Uzumaki boy. Was this the power of that cursed clan?

He was cut out of his musings when the unhindered Barricade suddenly appeared right in front of him and the other two surviving shinobi. They leapt back in surprise as the gigantic mace swung down and crushed the lightning barrier in s shower of sparks as if it had never existed. Barricade's dark eyes caught onto the three shinobi and before they knew it, the massive mace had already crushed another shinobi underneath its unbridled power, a crater forming due to the blow.

Hiro's last remaining shinobi of Squad A tried to leap away only to be caught in a giant hand that clenched shut tightly as the shinobi gave out one last, pained scream. Barricade then emotionlessly threw the crushed body to the side as if had never been there. Hiro once again saw red at the display of brutality. Yes he and his men had attacked this group, but was such brutality required? In his anger he leapt up at Barricade's face to try and deliver a deadly blow, only to be swatted to the side like a fly. All it had taken was a vicious backhand from the black robot to send him flying.

Hiro felt himself rolling across the ground until he came to a painful stop, every bone and muscle in his body hurting from just that one blow. His squad had just been decimated in such little time. He looked to the side only to grimace in pain as well as worry. Every muscle in his body protested that simple movement.

But what caused him to worry was that with Squad A disabled, there was nothing stopping from Barricade reaching Squad C. Furthermore Squad C was built for long range attacks and would be helpless against a close combat specialist, well even more helpless than usual since Squad A hadn't even formed a threat to Barricade.

From his position down on the ground Hiro could only watch as the entirety of Squad C began preparing lightning jutsu. He could tell it would probably be useless but it was better than nothing. The commander of Squad A's group then narrowed his eyes when he recognized the jutsu that Barricade was performing before his eyes widened when he realized Barricade's plan, the plan that could turn his comrade's jutsus against them.

"K-Kairi! Stop!" he yelled out hoarsely through his parched throat.

They did not hear him however and launched their lightning techniques towards the charging Barricade who had just finished his hand seals.

 **"Suiton: Daibakufu!"** (Water Release: Great Water Vortex) Barricade yelled out as a massive swirling vortex appeared from behind him and launched directly towards Squad C.

Hiro's fears came true as the incredibly massive vortex of water merely absorbed each of the lightning jutsu headed his way that only added to its already enormous destructive potential as it surged with lighting through it. Squad C all got dragged into the spiraling vortex that Barricade had created and Hiro merely closed his eyes knowing that Squad C was lost. He had witnessed that same jutsu by one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist once before and the sheer size of the technique left no survivors. This time the jutsu had been twice as big and coursing with lightning. There was no hope left for Squad C.

Hiro felt helpless, even as he managed to stand up on shaky legs. They had lost more than twenty five of their men to this robot alone and Xaxa, their ace, had obviously perished against Kakashi. Even if the Copy Ninja was out of chakra and not participating in this slaughter, the Copy Ninja had done his part. There was also the other Yellow robot to account for.

Hiro turned his head to see how Squad B and D were faring. He was pleasantly surprised to see that they were almost all still accounted for, with twenty six men remaining out of twenty eight. He had to give it to Kage and Daichi as whatever strategy they had implemented seemed to be working. Squad B was running circles around an obviously frustrated robot while Squad D surrounded the battle and were firing unhindered. It wasn't having much effect but Hiro could tell that they were at least waiting for the robot to tire and they were on their way there. The commander of Squad A felt a pang of guilt as he watched. If he had implemented that same strategy, would his squad still be alive?

He shook his head. There was no use looking at the past. _'At least they are dealing with their robot steadily. After that they could move on to the black robot and then…'_ Hiro's thoughts froze to a stop. The black robot. He had completely disregarded that factor after Squad C had been destroyed. Looking back now he wanted to shout in frustration. The deadly black behemoth was charging towards Squads B and D. _'No! That's going to ruin their formation and that black robot is probably stronger than the yellow one. And they don't even see it coming!'_ Hiro tried shouting out a warning but it came out as more of a squeak and he sincerely doubted his comrades heard it above the noise of their own battle.

There was only one thing left to do then. It would successfully delay Barricade hopefully as well warn his comrades. He stood up on shaky legs as he eyed Barricade, gathering chakra to his right hand and going through a series of twenty lightning fast hand seals. The jutsu he was using right now was still incomplete; Hiro had been working on it for some time now but just couldn't get it right. It would either severely injure him or destabilize before he could get it to work.

The Jutsu was meant to gather a load of lightning chakra onto an open palm while compressing it to great levels that it would become volatile. The entire arm would heat up as he kept control of the compressed lightning chakra that was slowly building up. It would then start forming a white light around the user's arm due to its potency and the user could practically feel its weight dragging him down. Then the user would use a burst of speed to close in on his opponent or a Barricade and bring their hand down in a slap, that was hot enough to melt through almost anything and would release all the built up energy in a destructive explosion.

Hiro had never been fully successful in this technique before, hence the reason he hadn't used it earlier, but it never hurt to try one last time.

 **"Raiton: Shiroi Bakudan Yashi!"** (Lightning Release: White Bomb Fist)

Hiro gave out a shout of determination as he blurred forward to intercept Barricade, running faster than he had ever done before, even boosting his muscles with chakra. He ran alongside the charging titan for a few seconds before leaping up towards Barricade's massive shoulders.

He gave a powerful shout as he slapped his chakra filled hand onto Barricade's shoulders.

Barricade's eyes widened in surprise before the explosion took place, filling the clearing with a bright, white light as both Hiro and the transformer were covered in smoke.

The ground shook once again as everyone paused to see what had just happened, and everyone was shocked when they noticed Barricade lying flat on the ground with scraps of burnt metal falling away from his shoulder. Barricade stood up once again and roared in pain, the majority of his shoulder had been taken out by that blow and he was in agony.

Then to the ambush party's dismay, the red chakra enveloped the wound and metal quickly began twisting and reforming before their very eyes. It wasn't long before a relatively unharmed but raging Barricade was left looking for the source of its injury. Barricade's eyes zoned onto the prone form of Hiro as the commander of Squad A tried feebly to get up. He had managed to hurt Barricade and was now the main threat.

The steel titan walked up to the man with rumbling steps before picking up Hiro into one hand. The gigantic hand then brought the weakened leader up to its owner's face where Barricade peered into his eyes.

To his credit Hiro stared back unflinchingly before Barricade roared into his face, deafening him, before tossing Hiro high up into the air.

The remaining shinobi of the ambush party could only watch helplessly as another man was treated like a baseball, the massive mace slamming straight into Hiro's chest and caving it in as he soared away from the clearing.

 _'What a nice view.'_ Hiro thought appreciatively from up in the air. It was his last thought as darkness encroached his vision.

Bumblebee had been watching the event intently, momentarily forgetting that he had been in his own fight. The distraction cost him as he had unknowingly given Squad B enough time to prepare and catch him off guard.

 **"Raiton: Kuro Ikazuchi Netto!"** (Lightning Release: Black Lightning Netto) Four voices rang out as four gigantic black nets of lightning nets shot out from around Bumblebee. They successfully entangled Bumblebee in their powerful grasp as the mighty robot began struggling in the middle unable to form hand seals.

This gave the other members of Squad B to finish their hand seals, all for the same jutsu. **"Raiton: Shichuu Shibari!"** (Lightning Release: Four Pillar Bind)

Multiple pillars of earth shot up all around Bumblebee, lightning arcing in between all four pillars. As they surged through each other all the multiple pillars of four began to interact with each other forming a complex maze of over thirty pillars with Bumblebee still stuck under the black lightning nets.

Daichi gave a whoop in triumph. "All right Squad B, way to go! Now as long as we can sustain this Jutsu and that thing will remain trapped there! Now everyone divert your attention to the other one and use the same strategy! Then we will…" They were interrupted by a scream and all the members of Squad B whirled around.

They were just in time to see Barricade brutally crushing a Kunoichi underneath his deadly mace.

"Shit, Squad B give cover fire for Squad D." Daichi ordered desperately. They had almost completely forgotten about this robot in their rush to detain the other. And by the looks of it this one was far more deadly than the yellow robot they had just detained. It had to be, it had single handedly decimated Squads A and C after all. "Remember, blunt force hits work much better than piercing! We can't pierce his armour but we can smash it!" Daichi reminded his squad.

They all took this in mind as they began preparing their water techniques. Although their water affinities were weaker than that of their lightning, in this situation they would prove to be more effective and essential.

 **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** (Water Release: Liquid Water Bullets)

 **"Suiton: Akuma Kushi Kasai!"** (Water Release: Demon Spit Fire)

 **"Suiton: Mizurappa!"** (Water Release: Raging Waves)

 **"Suiton: Daibakufu!"** (Water Release: Great Water Vortex)

 **"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet)

The multitude of weak water techniques crashed head on into Barricade toppling him over backwards. The water techniques may have been considerably weaker than his, but there were a lot of them and water was heavy. The knockback effect was also enough to throw him down and partially cave in the armour on his chest.

Meanwhile Kage and his squad made distance from Barricade as Squad D regrouped with Squad B.

Kage landed right next to Daichi as the remaining two jonin warily watched Barricade getting back to his feet, seemingly angrier than before – if that was even possible. "What's the plan Daichi?" Kage asked. It had been Daichi who had come up with the strategy against Bumblebee earlier.

"Same as a while ago." The commander of Squad B answered quickly. Everyone tensed as they saw Barricade preparing to charge once again, the dented breastplate already fully repaired. Daichi continued his command while he had time, "Keep your distance and utilize water techniques that have high impact power. Piercing and cutting jutsus are useless. Try and buy time to set up similar barriers used to restrain such as first target."

All the men nodded in affirmative as they all cautiously surrounded the volatile robot. Everybody tensed as Barricade's obsidian black orbs slowly scanned its targets. Then it did something they did not expect. Barricade made a dash towards the trapped Bumblebee, something which no body was keeping watch of.

"What's that thing doing?" Kage asked confused. "Those electric currents can keep anything out just as well as they can keep something in. There's no way it can rescue its partner."

His theory seemed to be proven correct when Barricade tried passing through only to be instantly repelled and pushed back.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

The massive wave of wind erupted from Barricade's mouth and was large enough to cover the entirety of Bumblebee's electric prison. The powerful gale disrupted all the lightning coursing between the massive pillars rendering them useless before the black lightning nets around Bumblebee dispersed due to the wind.

Now free, Bumblebee cracked its neck and shoulders before moving to stand next to Barricade. The duo was once again combined as they gazed menacingly at the smaller shinobi.

"What now Daichi?" Kage asked. "This was not part of the plan."

Daichi's jaw clenched as his features settled in a grim line. "We follow the old plan. Even if there are two of them together it can't be that different." He said boldly, trying to increase morale in their troops.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

(Inside the mindscape)

 **"Yes Naruto! Kill them! Show them what happens when they mess with you, show them what happens when they mess with your friends and comrades! They deserve to die! You are the judge and you have the power. Therefore they should die! Show them no mercy, just as they have shown none! Take your revenge!"** The deep unknown voice echoed throughout the mindscape as its other occupants grimaced.

 **"We need to break that connection that voice has with the kit!"** Kurama declared angrily. **"Its influence is the worst possible type and we cannot get through to Naruto as long as whatever that thing is still there!"** Kurama bellowed out.

Barricade frowned. "We know that you overgrown fox! Just shut up and continue making a disturbance!" The black robot yelled back out as he leapt up and socked Kurama in the jaw.

 **"I'm trying! But simply fighting amongst ourselves like this is getting us nowhere!"** The Bijuu snapped back as it used one of its massive tails to slap Barricade out of the air.

The Kyubi was then pushed back from successive energy blasts to the face and he backed down in pain. "I share your sentiments Kurama, but what else do you suggest we do?" Optimus added his own input. "Apparently the power level we are using is insufficient."

Kurama suddenly sported an evil grin and as Bumblebee and Frenzy whined in protest. **"Insufficient. Nice word Prime. Nice and accurate."** The massive fox grinned as all nine of his tails bent forward and red and blue chakra started condensing in front of the bijuu's mouth. **"Then take this! Bijuudama!"** Kurama yelled as he fired the enormous attack at the smaller transformers.

Barricade dropped his mace as he stared at the oncoming attack. "What the hell Kurama!" he yelled just as the massive ball exploded, rocking the entire mindscape violently.

 **"This isn't over Prime, I'll be back."** The deep unknown voice warned just as it faded away along with the sound of the explosion.

"This is good. I can feel the link between us and Naruto." Optimus declared, pleased at the outcome. "Now we just need to get him to calm down."

Kurama scoffed. **"Let me handle this."**

At the nod of approval from the autobot leader Kurama began speaking. **"Oi! Kit! What the hell do you think you're doing!"**

"I'm disposing of these monsters." Naruto shot back angrily.

 **"This is not the way Naruto."** The massive fox used Naruto's real name due to the importance of the situation. **"Why do you need to treat them all so harshly? What have they done to deserve this?"**

"They killed my sensei, my teammates, my friends and my brother. And if I don't deal with them now then a lot more of my family will get hurt! Don't compare me with you! You've never had family let alone friends so I don't expect you to know what I feel!" Naruto snapped back.

That struck a chord. And it took almost all of Kurama's self control not to lash back at the boy. Nobody needed an angrier Naruto at the moment.

 **"Listen brat. Everyone goes through loss like this but think about them! They were just following orders, you can't just blame them for…"**

"So what should I do? Just let them walk away?" Naruto said disbelievingly. "Oh, you just killed a lot of important people close to me, you are free to go and come back to try again!" The blonde Uzumaki added sarcastically.

 **"I'm not saying that what they did is right Naruto!"** Kurama yelled back, frustrated with the situation. **"But you could possibly forgive them…"**

"No, they will all die. If only I had killed them all earlier then my team would be alive right now. It's kill or be killed in this harsh world of ours. And I have the power to kill, so I will do so to protect. But now I must have my revenge!" Naruto declared.

 **"Revenge is not the way! Meaningless violence won't get anyone nowhere and revenge won't make you feel better!"**

"Coming from the Bijuu that attacked Konoha!" Naruto shot back.

 **"Don't listen to that voice Naruto! It was deceiving you for its own ends. This path of hatred does not suit you! Was this what your friend's would have wanted? Does it make you feel better?"** Kurama knew this was a bad conversation that was worsening every minute.

"Big righteous talk coming from you don't you think?" Naruto commented sarcastically. "You have no right to tell me what to do or bring up my friends. And yes, it does make me feel better. Added to that how do I know that voice wasn't you, you definitely sound alike and he also spoke words that you are likely to say. How do I know that that voice wasn't you?"

Kurama's eyes widened at both the revelations and the insults that his container had just thrown at him. Was that how he was really viewed? It hurt a lot.

 **"Listen brat! If you do not calm down now then I shall stop you from forcefully taking my chakra!"** Kurama threatened.

"Take it!" Naruto challenged back.

 **"Fine!"** Kurama bellowed back as he cut off the chakra to Naruto.

"Wait Kurama don't…" Optimus shouted but was too late as Kurama had already cut off the chakra.

 **"What? He was using a lot of my chakra so I took it away. Maybe now he can think clearly."** Kurama explained in a bitter tone.

"That's the problem!" Optimus uncharacteristically hissed. "He's got a clear head now! Your chakra was so filled with malice and negativity that it helped cloud his mind and made him act like a wild beast. Whereas before those shinobi could outsmart his bestial behavior, they don't stand a chance against a Naruto that can plan ahead! Naruto tricked you!"

 **"You sly piece of shit!"** The Kyubi yelled as he thrashed against the bars of his cage. **"Naruto!"**

Outside the mindscape Squads B and D watched in confusion as the red chakra surrounding the two steel behemoths disappeared entirely and the oppressive aura that they were omitting decreased slightly.

If they looked closer they would have noticed the small smirks on both Barricade's and Bumblebee's faces as their eyes shifted back to red and blue respectively.

* * *

(With Kakashi)

The masked Jonin's eyes were wide as he sat down uselessly in the clearing that he had dropped down into earlier. He was witnessing almost absolute slaughter at the hands of his student and he was watching all the punishment that the steel juggernauts could receive and all the destruction that they could unleash.

Batting away shinobi like flies and shrugging off powerful techniques as if they were nothing, this boy was truly a force to be reckoned with. And to think that his power could still be boosted by both the Kyubi and the Celestial Gates… his student was a terrible monster that he very much preferred on Konoha's side in the future.

He would have tried to step in at this point but he still barely had any chakra left and Xaxa had unknowingly destroyed his stash of soldier pills. He just hoped that Naruto calmed down after his destructive streak since Kakashi sincerely doubted he could safely restrain Naruto at this point.

Up in the trees at the edge of the forest, three genin were also watching the scene with horrified looks.

"N-naruto?" Sakura asked weakly. She could not believe her eyes. The kind laughing boy that was her teammate was doing this? The contrast was too big. This couldn't be Naruto.

Tenten was going through similar thoughts. _'Was Naruto always like this?'_ she asked herself. _'No he wasn't, maybe he's doing this to protect us?'_

Sasuke however was eyeing the entire battle grimly. He had seen Naruto act like this once before after all. "Naruto's angry. Really angry."

Both girls turned to Sasuke as he said that.

"He probably thinks we're dead or something, nothing else could get him this riled up." Sasuke explained before he caught sight of Kakashi. "Anyway let's go get Kakashi-sensei. He looks tired but he might know what's going on." The raven haired Uchiha suggested.

After a quick meow from Tora the trio leapt out of the trees and towards Kakashi.

* * *

(With Daichi and Kage)

The majority of both Squads B and D were curiously studying the two robots. Firstly both of them had gone still for a good minute and none seemed to be making a move. Then the red chakra cloak that had been bubbling around them disappeared, lessening the tension in the atmosphere. Both jonin had considered attacking while the two were immobile, but they were wary considering the fact that the two may have been planning something and it was a trap.

Then suddenly, they moved. Well, their hands did as they began blurring through hand seals.

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Great Fireball) Bumblebee signed as a massive fireball burst from his mouth and headed straight towards the group.

 **"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!"** (Earth Release: Great Impact) An enormous boulder the width and height of a three story building shot towards the group, joining with the fireball that lit the boulder on fire.

 **"Fuuton: Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Wind god's Breath) Bumblebee finished his second set of hand seals and forced out a massive force of air that sent the flaming boulder roaring to life at it rocketed towards the mass of shinobi.

Generally surprised since they were never attacked by a combination jutsu such as this before, the two jonin quickly took command as they hurried through their own hand seals.

Daichi finished first. **"Raiton: Zekkyou Washi!"** (Lightning Release: Screaming Eagle) The eagle gave one deafening screech before it shot towards the incoming boulder at great speeds. The explosion managed to take out the boulder as it shattered into debris but the raging flames of the fireball carried on as if nothing happened.

But Kage had been expecting this. **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) The commander of Squad D took a deep breath before spitting out immense amounts of water that quickly formed a wall around both squads.

The fireball hissed wildly as it came into contact with the water, both jutsu fighting for dominance. For a minute the fireball seemed to be getting the upper hand before Kage was joined by four others, strengthening the water wall until the fireball died down.

After the quick exchange, Squads B and D just managed to cast Bumblebee facing upwards. **"Katon: Housenka!"** (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower) A multitude of fireballs then shot upwards into the sky while the Kage and Daichi looked on suspiciously. What purpose would that serve?

They were answered a minute later by Barricade. **"Doton: Iwa no Ame!"** (Earth Release: Rock Rain) The sky above them then darkened considerably as it became filled with human sized boulders that rocketed downwards at great speeds. But not before coming into contact with the multiple fireballs in the air and catching fire.

 **"Kami damn it!"** Kage shouted out. "Squad D, eyes to the sky!" he ordered as he began launching lightning jutsu up into the sky to ensure that none of the deadly projectiles hit the ground. He didn't want to think of the consequences of that happening. The commander of Squad D only grew more determined as he noticed one of his men getting flattened by one of the raining boulders.

Daichi was in a similar state. Whatever had happened with the two robots, it had just made them so much more dangerous. And he didn't like it. "Squad B bombard those two! Don't let them finish any more techniques!" He ordered harshly as he locked eyes with Barricade. **"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Taigun!"** (Water Release: Water Dragon Horde) The commander of Squad B decided to set an example as he assaulted the two robots with a horde of water dragons. They weren't powerful by any means but he hoped they would serve their purpose to try and distract the two robots.

He was followed up by what was left of his squad, launching what water jutsu they had as they trusted Squad D to deal with the aerial threat.

Barricade eyed the incoming jutsu for a moment before slamming his gigantic hands onto the ground. **"Doton: Doryuuheki!"** (Earth Release: Mud Wall)

A gigantic wall shot up from the ground standing over thirty feet high while being almost a hundred feet wide. The water techniques uselessly impacted against the wall as it soaked up the moisture from the attacks.

Daichi wondered what the purpose of the over sized wall was. The robots didn't need to worry much about being harmed by the relatively weak water jutsu, so why the big wall? He then eyed Bumblebee suspiciously as the yellow robot leapt on top of the massive earth wall.

 **"Katon: Ryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire) Bumblebee then proceeded to blow the massive amount of flames across the entirety of the wall, lighting it on fire.

"Is he, baking it?" Daichi asked incredibly. He knew that baked earth was harder than normal earth but then why was Bumblebee continuously breathing flames towards the wall.

 **"Doton: Youshanai Kabe Boukou!"** (Earth Release: Unrelenting Wall Assault) Barricade declared from somewhere behind the wall.

To Daichi and his squad's dismay the entire wall began shooting out enormous human sized boulders at a frightening rate. Added to that the rocks lit up the second they began flying due to Bumblebee's constant stream of fire from on top of the wall.

"Don't panic!" Daichi shouted out bravely regardless of the fear he felt. He had to unite his men to stand a chance against this. "Follow my lead! **Raiton: Kuro Ikazuchi Netto!"** (Lightning Release: Black Lightning Net)

Squad B all nodded to each other as they took a place next to their commander. He had kept them alive this long after all. A few second later multiple thick nets of black lightning raced across the clearing as they came into contact with the flaming rock bullets. Both sides met dead centre and the two large scale jutsu met each other head on, reaching an inevitable stalemate as the net stopped and progress made by the boulders while the boulders constantly rammed into the net, much like fish trying to escape from fishing net.

Unfortunately, there was a robot that did not seem too happy with the stalemate. Bumblebee inhaled once before letting out his jutsu. **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

The lightning nets stood no chance as they dispersed against the face of such a powerful wind attack and the flaming boulders suddenly regained their momentum as they resumed their path straight towards the members of Squad B.

To their credit, the members stood firm, waiting for their commander's next orders. Out of nowhere Kage appeared next to Daichi with Squad D following close behind.

"Aerial threat has been taken care of." Kage informed Daichi as the two jonin stood side by side again.

"Good work, just in time to set up a defense." Daichi replied as he ran through hand seals. "Everyone time this jutsu with me to increase its power." He instructed as he ran through his hand seals.

 **"Raiton: Kaminari Shouheki!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Barrier) All the combined shinobi yelled in unison as a massive wall of coursing lightning crackled to life in front of them.

They all let out a sigh of relief as the boulders crumbled to dust upon contact with the lightning barrier. But that didn't last long.

 **"Katon: Karyuu Endan!"** (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet) Bumblebee let loose a massive dragon that burst upwards with a frightening roar that shook the small valley. This beast of fire made Kakashi's look small by comparison and all the shinobi felt a chill as it turned to gaze at them. There was a second's pause before the dragon shot forward and closed the distance at a speed far greater than that of any rock.

"Pour your chakra into the lightning barrier! It will hold!" Daichi yelled above the roar of the dragon.

 **"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!"** (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel) Barricade added as a much larger and faster tunnel of wind caught up with the already enormous dragon causing it's body to spin as it joined with the wind and almost doubled in size.

The impact of the dragon crashing into the lightning barrier was so intense that the ground beneath the impact cracked and split under the sheer force of the technique. Both Squads B and D almost buckled under the pressure and for second it looked like maybe they would make it.

Then the lightning barrier failed, taking with it around half of the remaining soldiers as they were mercilessly incinerated, no ashes even present to indicate they once existed.

Daichi grabbed Kage and the remaining members and barely managed to throw them all out of harm's way, all panting heavily. Looking around Daichi grimaced at what he saw, aside from the scorched clearing only twelve men remained. From what used to be a sixty, that was a very small fraction of remaining shinobi.

Before they could even move Barricade had already launched another jutsu and Daichi cursed loudly. One would think that a simple genin squad would have been easy to deal with.

Barricade was smirking victoriously. The remaining shinobi were close together now, and it was an opportunity he had been waiting for. **"Doton: Asu Supaiku Meiro!"** (Earth Release: Earth Spike Maze)

The ground rumbled and shook as thousands of earth spikes erupted with varying lengths, sizes and directions that they faced; forming an impossible maze to navigate that looked like a dense forest of earth spikes from the outside.

Daichi and Kage managed to leap out of the way from the majority of the spikes as they emerged from the ground, but three of their men weren't so lucky and they screamed in pain as they were viciously impaled on the spikes and silenced a moment later.

Those that survived soon found themselves in almost total darkness inside the labyrinth as they regrouped with each other. "Daichi, should we go back out or stay in here?" Kage asked nervously.

Daichi considered the question for a moment. "I think we should stay here instead of heading out. They can't find us in here and we can relax for a while and get our energy back as well as recover."

The remaining shinobi all nodded as they grouped together in the dark, before a voice they sincerely hated reached their ears.

 **"Katon: Gouryuuka!"** (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire)

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

"Shit they're going to cook us in here!" Kage shouted out in surprise. "So that was their plan."

"It doesn't matter." Daichi snapped. "They will fail. Kage and four others make a water barrier, the other three along with me will reinforce it with lightning."

The others gave a shout of their approval before they went through their hand seals.

 **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)

 **"Raiton: Kaminari Shouheki!"** (Lightning Release: Lightning Barrier)

The combination technique surrounded the entire group just as the blazing inferno came crashing down on top of them. Even though the water and lightning jutsu managed to repel the fire, the occupants inside still felt the blistering heat searing into their skin.

"Relax, we've got this." Daichi reassured them as they withstood the onslaught.

Due to the din, they could not hear what the two robots chanted out next. And nothing they could do would save them this time.

* * *

(With Kakashi)

Kakashi was currently watching the battle and if the situation had been different, he would be commending Naruto's thinking and efficiency. But to think a child would be doing it was alarming. He had hit jonin at Naruto's age, but even he had not been capable of this. The ANBU captain part of him could respect what Naruto was doing, ensuring his comrade's safety as well as eliminating future threats, but his elder brother side was begging him to change or stop what Naruto was doing.

However he knew that it was probably better to interfere later, when Naruto was finished with his extermination project. The first reason was that Naruto would probably be calmer and the second was that it was actually better if there was no one left to attack a vulnerable Naruto or the blonde boy's teammates.

To the white haired jonin's right, Sasuke stood attentively as he carefully watched the battle. He was torn between worrying for his brother and being amazed by the power display. It was fascinating and horrifying seeing the effects of Naruto's jutsu should they connect. They often used this in sparring but Sasuke always either knew how to counter or evade such techniques. These opponents did not, and they were paying the price.

Tenten was seated next to Kakashi's left watching the events silently. Unlike the two males who were observing the battle, her mind was working on how to calm down Naruto afterwards. She had already discarded a good amount of strategies and she could still find no sure way to calm him down based on what she knew of him.

Sakura on the other hand had her hands on Kakashi's back glowing green as she utilized what little medical techniques she knew to heal and patch up her sensei. Coming from a civilian family and never really being invested in the shinobi life until recently, she was not ready to watch her blond teammate go about his business. Taking a single life had taken its toll on her, so what was Naruto feeling? She knew he was powerful, but could his mind take it all in afterwards? She had, after all, been reduced to a wreck earlier on. The pink haired girl kept her thoughts to herself as she focused on healing Kakashi.

"Oh no." Kakashi murmured to himself, however his three genin caught it. Turning back to the battle they clearly understood their sensei's worry when Naruto summoned the Earth Spike Maze.

"What's wrong Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked. "It makes no sense for you to worry about the enemy shinobi like that. They should have known what they were walking into."

"It's not that." Kakashi replied as he watched Naruto's robots creating an oven inside the maze. "It's what follows afterwards. This isn't the first time I've seen this particular combination." The white haired jonin could still clearly recall that horrific experience he'd had on his genin test with the blonde.

Sasuke's eyes widened considerably. "That finishing move." The young Uchiha's eyes snapped back to the battlefield. "Aren't we a little too close then?"

Kakashi nodded grimly. "I was a mile away before and I still got sent flying. Right now we're less than half a mile away."

 **"Doton: Zen'nou Suramu!"** (Earth Release: Almighty Slam)

 **"Fuuton: Kaze no Hogo!"** (Wind Release: Protection of the Breeze)

 **"Katon: Goukakyou!"** (Fire Release: Great Fireball)

Kakashi's eyes snapped up and widened when he noticed the giant rock in the sky. This one was even bigger than before and was almost the size of six story building. Then it caught fire and began burning dangerously, burning bright enough to almost completely blind them.

 **"Fuuton: Idaina Fujin no Iki!"** (Wind Release: Great Wind god's Breath)

And then it plummeted downwards at a speed the eye could barely follow, right towards the earth spike maze.

"Kakashi shot to his feet running through hand seals. This close to the jutsu was bad and he had no time to try and shunshin everyone out of there. **"Doton: San-Sou Hogo Doumo!"** (Earth Release: Three Layered Protective Dome)

Three layers of the earth around team seven minus Naruto shot up and locked into place surrounding them in a protective cocoon of Earth. No less than a second after Kakashi had set up the defense did the impact arrive. The ground rumbled and shook violently as if there was an earth quake taking place.

Sasuke, Sakura and Tenten all jolted around as they were lifted off the shaking ground from the sheer force of the impact. Throughout this, Kakashi's eyes remained closed shut with his hands tightly locked in the 'snake' seal as he constantly pushed his chakra into the three domes protecting them.

After the original impact, the displaced air and debris came flying towards them at a rapid pace. The air was still bearing a burning heat and the debris and air shook the dome harshly, threatening to rip the protective dome right out of the ground.

 _'If this doesn't end soon it isn't going to be pretty.'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he felt the first layer of the dome break down. The white haired jonin poured even more chakra into his technique in an attempt to sustain it but it had little effect as he felt the second layer of the dome crumble down into dust.

The masked jonin cursed to himself just as the last layer of the dome began cracking violently, threatening to shatter completely.

Then, just as fast as it had come, the danger was gone.

Kakashi sighed in relief. The danger had disappeared just in time too since there was very little left of the last layer of his earth defense. "That was close." He said mostly to himself.

"Meow." Tora seemed to add in agreement.

Surveying the damage around them however, the genin team could only nod. The entirety of the battlefield that the clearing had become was now void of grass and filled with scorched, blackened earth. There was no question as to whether or not there had been any survivors.

There also seemed not to be a single sign of life in the area. Deathly silence, that was a sharp contrast to the noise that had been present earlier on, was all that remained. It was unsettling to say the least.

Then from the crash site there seemed to be movement. But team seven was not surprised when two giant robots emerged from the depths of the massive crater in the center of the field.

* * *

(With Naruto)

Barricade gave a satisfied scoff as he climbed out of the hole. Finally, they were done. The Decepticon then bent back over to give Bumblebee a hand as he pulled the yellow autobot out of the clearing.

That had been an interesting fight to say the least. But he still had to make sure that none of the shinobi got away. Barricade gathered chakra once again before letting it all out in a massive wave. "Chakura Parusu!" Barricade stated.

Both robots then waited intently as they scanned the surrounding area. There were four life signatures inside the clearing but he recognized them to they were clear. But then two unknown chakra sources were sensed near the tree line, watching from a high branch.

Both Bumblebee's and Barricade's heads snapped upwards as they received the information. Their heads turned in the direction of the forest and caught sight of the two shinobi in the trees. With two giant roars the two steel giants prepared to charge at the tree line and finish the job.

Due to their roars and focus on the last two shinobi that they detected, they did not pay any heed to the bun haired girl that was calling for their attention. In fact, they did not notice her until Bumblebee was hit by a massive explosion that sent him crashing painfully towards the ground with a large chunk of yellow armour missing from his back, even as the metal quickly reformed.

"Listen to me when I'm calling you!" Tenten yelled from the ground with her massive mace at the downed Bumblebee.

Barricade whirled around when he registered Bumblebee getting downed and the Decepticon roared once again with his mace held high, ready to crush whatever opponent there was. He did not even get to spot the opponent before there was another explosion and Barricade found himself on his back with a destroyed chest.

"Are you even listening to me you knucklehead?!" Tenten yelled at Barricade's face as she stood on the downed robot's neck.

A little bit away from the commotion Kakashi and Sasuke watched the events with a sweat drop while Sakura just looked confused. "When she said she would handle it I certainly wasn't expecting this." Kakashi said as he rubbed the back of his head.

Sasuke then shook his head. "Tenten's scary. She did in a few seconds what those men couldn't do until they died."

Tora gripped tighter onto Sakura's neck and meowed lightly.

Meanwhile Bumblebee had gotten up and was decently dazed before it noticed Tenten on top of a downed Barricade and instantly perceived her as a threat, not quite registering who she was yet. The yellow robot then leapt towards the bun haired girl with intent to harm.

Tenten had had enough, however. She released two of the seals on the mace which sent lightning and fire chakra coursing through it before doubling its density. The added weight wouldn't affect her, but it would definitely increase the power of the hit. "For crying out loud Naruto, will you stop it!"

Tenten easily evaded Bumblebee's arm as it came flying towards her and she grinned at the clear shot she had just been offered. Taking the chance, the bun haired girl swung her mace full force at the Autobot's face, unleashing a large amount of stored up energy.

The power of the blow and explosion coupled with the direct hit to the face had been enough to cause Bumblebee to dispel in a large puff of smoke.

Barricade's eyes widened in surprise and shock when Tenten jumped back up onto his face and held the mace out in front of him threateningly. "If you do not calm down right this instant then Kami help me I am going to blow you face off!" Tenten yelled fiercely at the Decepticon.

Barricade was not in any way afraid of the threat. He could deal with it quickly if the time came. But he was more concerned about the fact that he knew the girl that was on his face. And she wasn't dead like he had thought!

"Tenten, you're alive?" Barricade asked gently as it came back to its senses. Then it turned its massive head to the side and finally noticed the others. "Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sasuke too?" The Decepticon finally understood the friendly chakra it had sensed earlier on with the chakra pulse.

Tenten's features softened when she heard the relief evident in the robot's voice. "Yeah whiskers, we're fine."

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted with an eye smile, Sasuke grunted happily next to the white haired jonin while Sakura waved.

"I-I thought you were dead." Barricade admitted just as he dispelled in a massive plume of smoke and Naruto was left standing on the ground.

"Hn, as if we were going to die that easily." Sasuke smirked as he walked up to his brother.

Naruto gave a weary smile. "I'm glad." Those were Naruto's last words before he collapsed and fell forward as he drifted away into unconsciousness.

Luckily for him, Kakashi was there to catch him before he hit the ground. "He's exhausted, and I don't blame him. I think it's best if we made it back to Konoha, neh?" Kakashi suggested as he arranged Naruto on his back piggy back style.

The others gave tired nods as well before following their sensei back into the trees in the direction of Konoha.

"I hope this isn't what a C-rank mission is usually like." Sasuke muttered as they disappeared into the tree line.

Two eyes however were watching from their spot.

"Hmm, I think that girl just saved our lives." Karuiki muttered thankfully. Those robots had been terrifying.

"I agree. If she hadn't done that then those robots would have carried on to us with no one stopping them and then they would maybe give us horrible deaths. But it would be could if we died a quick death, what if they decided to torture us for information…"

Karuiki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at his friends rant.

"… about why we came to kill them or maybe about who we are and who our families are so they can kill them later as revenge. The Raikage-sama will get angry and…"

"Shut it Omoitsu!" Karuiki hissed, shoving a lollipop into his partner's mouth to shut him up. "We avoided every fight today and that's why we are still alive! But if you keep blabbering then they are definitely going to hear us!"

"Sorry." Omoitsu said apologetically. "But what do we do now? We never liked fighting and if we go back with the entire squad dead then Raikage-sama will question why we are the only ones alive when the great fighters like Xaxa-taichou are all dead? Then Raikage-sama will call us cowards and he hates cowards then he will have us killed…"

He was shut up by Karuiki putting up his hand. "Stop being so negative. This is our chance!"

At Omoitsu's confused look Karuiki decided to elaborate. "We hate fighting right?" He waited for his partner to nod. "We're cowards right?" Omoitsu nodded again shamelessly. "And we can't go back right?" Omoitsu nodded once again, listening intently. "Then now is our chance to leave Kumo and never go back!"

Omoitsu's mouth hanged open in shock, his lollipop almost falling out. "Won't we become missing-nin if we do that?" he asked unsurely.

Karuiki beamed at him. "How will we become missing-nin if they thought we were dead?"

Omoitsu's eyes widened exponentially at that.

"And we can finally travel the world without problems because people don't like Kumo or because Kumo is forbidden! We can disguise ourselves as civilians and go anywhere!" Karuiki added with a glint in his eye.

"What about our kids? Omoi and Karui will be left alone without fathers." Omoitsu asked a little worriedly.

Karuiki scoffed. "Those brats of ours are old enough to take care of themselves. That and they have their mothers so we shouldn't care."

Omoitsu nodded thoughtfully as he tried to come up with an argument. He sighed heavily when he could think of none. "Man, Raikage-sama is gonna kill us when he finds out."

Karuiki grinned at his friend. "If. If he finds out."

Omoitsu grinned back. "If. If is good."

* * *

 **(Yatsu): Sorry again for the long update. But I have examinations coming up next month so I have to study. This might be the last chapter for the next two months. Enjoy!**

 **P.S. Do not disregard Omoitsu and Karuiki. They might seem like a pair of idiots, well they are, but they will cause a lot of trouble later on.**

 **(TDDE): Another great chapter by Yatsu! Everyone remember to send him your thanks for all of his hard work!**

 **Please Review! Ciao!**


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